Keep your friends close and your enemies closer may be quoted more than once today to the PM for choosing to pick a fight in the spotlight with his former Svengali.
parliament tv today will probably see record levels of viewers watching two parliamentary select committees featuring Mr Cummings. I like many in hospitality will be, as the testimony provided will give first-hand insight to decisions taken that so devastatingly impacted our industry.
So, why would anyone advise the PM to have remained at the very least cordial with Mr Cummings? Cummings has already set the scene and his intentions.
He announced in his blog last month that he would provide a “tell-all testimony” to two parliamentary committees investigating “lessons learned” from the pandemic.
Cummings also made clear his contempt for Johnson stating he believed the PM had fallen “far below the standards of competence and integrity the country deserves”. He went on to say he would be happy to hand over key documents as evidence to corroborate any and all of his statements.
Cummings could not be described as a popular figure in politics, but as a political strategist he has proved his effectiveness. He masterminded the Brexit referendum campaign and the PM’s election campaign to ‘get Brexit done’ that saw the PM romp home with a margin Prime Ministers only dream of.
As the PM has a better view of what Mr Cummings can achieve when he sets his mind to it than anyone else, I am baffled as to why he chose to make an enemy of him.
The temptation possibly is to be seen to slay Cummings in public and pin all the negatives around the government’s handling of the pandemic at his door. He must have considered the potential downside, but, feeling invincible come what may protected by his vaccination get out of jail free card is willing to take the risk.
It is a huge risk, where the downside outweighs a difficult to see upside. The PM might just have his get out of jail free card confiscated today.
