Dominic Cummings has accused Boris Johnson of “possibly illegal” behaviour by “secretly” using Tory donors to pay for the renovation of his flat at Number 11 Downing Street, in an extraordinary broadside from the prime minister’s former top adviser.
In a blog published on Friday evening, Cummings — who quit Number 10 in December — claimed he had refused to help organise the payments.
“The PM stopped speaking to me about this matter in 2020 as I told him I thought his plans to have donors secretly pay for the renovation were unethical, foolish, possibly illegal and almost certainly broke the rules on proper disclosure of political donations if conducted in the way he intended,” he wrote.
Number 10 has repeatedly refused to deny that the cost of the project — thought to be up to £200,000 — was funded by the Conservative party and Tory donors. The work on the renovation has been overseen by Carrie Symonds, the prime minister’s fiancée.
Previous prime ministers have received about £30,000 apiece to spend on decorating the flat to their own liking.
Cummings also claimed on his blog that Johnson sought to abandon an inquiry into a leak last autumn about plans for a new Covid lockdown when its findings suggested Henry Newman, now one of Johnson’s advisers, may have been the source.
“The PM was very upset about this,” Cummings wrote. “He said to me afterwards, if Newman is confirmed as the leaker then I will have to fire him, and this will cause me very serious problems with Carrie as they’re best friends . . . perhaps we could get the cabinet secretary to stop the leak inquiry?”
Cummings claimed he told Johnson that this would be “mad” and unethical given that the prime minister had ordered the inquiry and authorised the cabinet secretary to use “more invasive” methods than usual.
“I told him that he could not possibly cancel an inquiry about a leak that affected millions of people, just because it might implicate his girlfriend’s friends,” he wrote.
He concluded the blog saying: “It is sad to see the PM and his office fall so far below the standards of competence and integrity the country deserves.”
Cummings insists in his blog that Johnson knew “I was not the source of the leak” last November of details for a second lockdown, known as the “chatty rat” leak.
However, some Downing Street officials insist the high-level investigation into the leak — which forced a furious Johnson to bring forward plans for the lockdown — has concluded that Cummings was the leaker.
One senior Tory said Simon Case, cabinet secretary, had brought in MI5 to investigate the leak — and that the inquiry had pointed the finger at Cummings.
Cummings’ comments were described as “damaging” by Lord William Hague, former leader of the Conservative party, who told Times Radio the former aide was “clearly trying to do as much damage to the prime minister as possible”.
A Number 10 spokesperson said the prime minister had never interfered in a government leak inquiry.
On the renovation of the PM’s quarters, they said: “At all times, the government and ministers have acted in accordance with the appropriate codes of conduct and electoral law. Cabinet Office officials have been engaged and informed throughout and official advice has been followed.”
They said: “This government is entirely focused on fighting coronavirus, delivering vaccines and building back better.”
Cummings also used the blog to call for an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis with evidence given under oath by the key players, saying he would be happy to publish almost all of his emails from during the period.
The former adviser also denied being the source of Johnson’s leaked text communications with industrialist Sir James Dyson, which were reported by the BBC earlier this week.
Cummings responded after three newspapers claimed on Friday that Johnson was angry and disappointed with him for being the apparent source of the leak.
“I was not directly or indirectly a/the source for the BBC/Kuenssberg story on the PM/Dyson texts,” Cummings wrote on his blog.
The leaked messages showed Johnson reassuring Dyson that his staff would not have to pay more tax if they came to Britain to make ventilators for the NHS at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The prime minister replied: “I will fix it.”
The revelation came amid a storm about the close relations between senior political figures and the business world, sparked by the Greensill scandal.
Johnson on Wednesday promised to “share all the details with the House [of Commons]” regarding his correspondence with Dyson, one of Britain’s best known entrepreneurs.
On Friday, the government released a detailed timeline of correspondence between Johnson, Dyson and the Treasury — rather than the actual documents.
The statement said the prime minister had informed officials about text messages he swapped with Dyson in late March 2020.
On April 9, the government formally announced it was temporarily changing the statutory residence test in the way the company had demanded.
This meant between March 1 and June 1 2020 “highly skilled individuals” based abroad would be able to work in the UK on projects related to the pandemic without their residence status for tax being affected.
In a separate statement published on Friday, Dyson pushed back against what it called “false reporting” surrounding the matter and argued that James Dyson was acting in the “national interest”.
The company said that at “a time of great fear, crisis and national emergency”, the entrepreneur had received a request for help from Johnson.
“It is utterly misleading and false to imply that any benefit or advantage was being sought beyond ensuring that neither the company nor its employees would be inadvertently penalised for their work on the National emergency.”
The company also rebuffed suggestions that Dyson was politically affiliated or a “donor” to the Conservatives, arguing that the businessman’s “total lifetime of political donations” amounted to just £800.
