Boris

For what it’s worth I think Cummings and Gove are much closer than Cummings and Johnson.

The former have set Johnson up as the fall guy, therefore leaving the door open for Gove to be the next PM and blame Johnson for the Covid and Brexit problems...... I hope I am wrong!

I agree.

Forgive me if this is ignorance, but if Johnson resigns doesn't the next leader of the tory party (and thus PM) have to be elected by party members and MPs?

Given the well reported rumblings of back bench MPs' 'unhappiness' with the Cummings regime do people think it at all likely that they would want Gove as their next leader as it would inevitably tighten Cummings' stranglehold?

MaizieD

Forgive me if this is ignorance, but if Johnson resigns doesn't the next leader of the tory party (and thus PM) have to be elected by party members and MPs?

Given the well reported rumblings of back bench MPs' 'unhappiness' with the Cummings regime do people think it at all likely that they would want Gove as their next leader as it would inevitably tighten Cummings' stranglehold?

Yes, the choice once again will be by a tiny minority of people who choose the leader and Prime Minister.

Apparently Gove is not popular amongst the wider membership (all 3 of them) so with luck he won’t be chosen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Cummings somehow fiddled that!

I would be very surprised if the next leader had Cummings to advise. Didn’t Cummings say once that he would only stay to get brexit done.

I would agree that Gove wants the top job, although he is supporting the current party line fully he is not an idealist. He will want the party to be more popular and soften the policies. His main disadvantage is that he is not a charismatic personality, wether that counts when party members vote remains to be seen, he doesn’t have to win a GE immediately the way BJ did.

I would be very surprised if the next leader had Cummings to advise. Didn’t Cummings say once that he would only stay to get brexit done.

I doubt if Cummings would go quietly. That 'getting brexit done' thing may have applied a year ago but hey, he's got himself into a nice position of power and patronage (juicy contracts for all his cronies) and I don't think he'll want to give that up.

I have read a few interesting articles lemon suggesting that there is some sort of history between Cummings' wife and Johnson, but there again, moral reputation has never bothered Johnson so you could well be right! I do think Cummings is demonic though, he is obsessive in his desire to strip the civil service down, and although we can all cite examples of 'jobsworth' behaviour within government departments, the expertise of the civil service is essential to temper the worst excessive ideas of some MPs. The proposals coming from Patel are hopefully being reigned in by the Home Office for example. I will try and find the link about The Spectator, if you are interested

Yes: wasn’t Cummings wife the ‘unknown woman’ in an allegation against Johnson many years ago?

Yes Maybee70 but in fairness, she did deny it.

Yes Theresa May was good !