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Dominic Cummings on Friday in London
Photo:
Yui Mok / dpa
Dominic Cummings, chief advisor and long-time close confidante of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is leaving his post with immediate effect, according to consistent media reports.
Cummings left government headquarters on Downing Street and decided not to stay until Christmas, Times Radio's chief commentator Tom Newton Dunn reported on Twitter.
The BBC and Sky News also report on Cumming's departure.
According to the BBC, Cummings had spoken to Johnson about his situation on Friday, then the decision had been made that an immediate withdrawal would be best.
Photos from Reuters news agency show Cunnings leaving government headquarters in London, holding a brown cardboard box.
A power struggle between rival factions had been raging for weeks in 10 Downing Street, and now it seems to have been decided: According to media reports, communications director Lee Cain has to leave alongside Cummings.
Cain and Cummings were key figures in the "Vote Leave" campaign that helped Boris Johnson win the "Brexit referendum" in June 2016.
Cummings was responsible for Johnson's rise like no other.
He acted like a de facto chief of staff to the British Prime Minister and positioned him against all those he believed were anti-Brexit.
Critics blame Cummings above all for the fatal corona policy of the Johnson administration.
Cummings drove across England in the middle of lockdown in the spring and left his quarantine site several times.
He could not explain his car journey satisfactorily.
More soon at spiegel.de
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