In defence of my friend Dominic Cummings
Everyone of a certain age who worked in New York or Washington has a 9/11 story; mine concerns Dominic Cummings.
It was sometime early in the afternoon of the unforgettable, nightmarish day. Three planes had already slammed into the World Trade Centre Buildings and the Pentagon, inflicting their awful havoc. A fourth plane had been commandeered by the al-Qaeda high-jackers and was sprinting for Washington.
I was aware that it was too close to the city to be stopped. So I gathered my very young (and very scared) staff and quietly said that – as we worked very near Capitol Hill – there was a one in three chance (I thought the White House the other plausible target) that the plane would strike the Senate side of the Capitol Building near to where we worked.
And that could well be the end of us. I said as that there was nothing I could do and, as I was one of my think tank’s terrorism experts, the best thing was to keep on working and hope for the best.
Our telephones’ silence, as they had been down for much of the day, left us feeling incredibly isolated. Just after my grim pronouncement, my phone rang sharply, jolting all of us with its immediacy. I answered and it was my friend, Dom.
Quietly, he said that he had been trying to get through for quite a while, wanted to know we were okay, and apologised (utterly unnecessarily) for taking up my time. Ringing off, Dom said, “Don’t worry, we will get the bastards”.
For this act alone, I will never be neutral about Dominic Cummings.
Though I have not spoken with him in quite a while, I do understand why the Remainer caste has made such a fetish of Dom, casting him as a modern-day Voldemort. Dom is that most dangerous of things, a true meritocrat.
I’ve seen him praise a waiter for doing his job well, just as I’ve heard him disparage a useless Tory grandee by calling him a muppet.
While worshipping ability sounds wonderful, the overrated of any political stripe are always going to be Dom’s natural enemies.
Worst of all, in winning a Brexit referendum that he was supposed to lose, Dom bested (and humiliated) much of Britain’s political class and commentariat, who have long been itching for revenge.
Lately, they seem to think that their chance has at last arrived, as Boris Johnson, urged on by his seemingly reckless de facto chief of staff, has committed his government to leaving the EU at the end of this month, come hell or high water.
There is now, even with the fast pace at which things are moving, a high risk that this is not going to happen. Time is running out for negotiations to be finalised, and while the government may be looking for creative solutions to parliament’s legislative straitjacket, if they fall through the Prime Minister may still be forced to request an extension.
As a result, calls for Dom’s head increase in pitch and frequency, almost by the hour.
But I must say that Dom Derangement Syndrome seems to have affected the critical faculties of his many enemies. From where I sit, they have underestimated him yet again.
Dom was not installed in Downing Street to primarily govern. Instead, he was given the great power he now exercises to manage the upcoming Tory campaign in what will surely be remembered as the Brexit election.
In urging the Prime Minister to very publicly commit himself to Brexit now and at any cost, Dom has underlined all the establishment forces that are not really against no-deal; they are against any deal.
The feckless parliament, the other-worldly courts, the pompous John Bercow, the rigid Michel Barnier, the clueless European Union – this motley cast of characters simply couldn’t be bettered as enemies if Dom had dreamed them up himself.
All the Prime Minister has to be is not them, and he is likely to win a narrow but workable majority at the upcoming election.
Just one set of polling numbers signify to me why Dom is winning, contrary to the mantra about his (wished-for) ineptitude.
A ComRes poll in early October 2019 found that a whopping 83 per cent of respondents blamed parliament in general for the Brexit delay, 70 per cent blamed Remain MPs specifically, while 63 per cent pointed the finger at the European Commission.
Only 56 per cent blamed the Prime Minister for the mess.
In calling the bluff of the Prime Minister’s foes, it seems to me that Dom has perfectly positioned the government to win an election that must come in the next few months. This, more than anything else, will determine the ultimate outcome of the Brexit drama.
Knowing the man as I do, I’d say there is decided method to his madness. Well done, Dom – you’ve foxed them again.
Main image credit: Getty