United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is reported to be resisting the attempts of his own Chief Adviser, Dominic Cummings (pictured) to move him out of his 10 Downing Street office.
Mr Cummings has reportedly said that Downing Street is “ramshackled” and wants to move the Prime Minister and other senior Public Servants into a new suite of offices similar to the United States White House’s West Wing.
Mr Cummings’ vision apparently includes an open-plan space including large television screens displaying the ‘performance data’ of the Public Service.
The move is part of a wider attempt by Mr Cummings to restructure the relationship between Downing Street and the Public Service, giving the Prime Minister’s staff more control over the bureaucracy.
Mr Johnson is understood to have indicated his intention to stay in his present accommodation, overruling Mr Cummings’ objections to threadbare carpets, trailing wires and overflowing bookshelves.
Other officials, including Mr Johnson’s private office and members of his policy unit, will move to new rooms in the Cabinet Office.
The rickety corridors and offices of Downing Street create an often claustrophobic atmosphere for officials and political advisers, and have also been linked to the rapid spread of COIVID-19 to Mr Johnson and his inner circle earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Conservative MPs are planning a House of Commons rebellion against Mr Cummings’ plan to turbocharge the country’s science and technology capabilities – as a ‘proxy protest’ against his Downing Street operation.
Mr Cummings wants to create a British version of America’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency which will require legislation to be passed this year.
However, backbenchers who feel alienated by the Adviser’s autocratic management style are plotting to try to vote down the Bill.
London, 24 August 2020
