Dominic Cummings to leave Downing Street by end of year

Dominic Cummings is expected to leave his role at Downing Street next month.

The controversial senior adviser told the BBC that his “position hasn't changed since my January blog”, in which he said he hoped to make himself “largely redundant” by the end of the year.

The SNP has said Boris Johnson's partnership with Dominic Cummings had “caused lasting harm to the UK” and left Scotland feeling “completely alienated”.

Cummings was brought in as a senior adviser after Johnson was elected as leader of the Conservative party in July 2019, with a key aim of seeing the Brexit process through.

He has also been vocal about his dislike of the civil service and his plans to overhaul it.

But he attracted controversy earlier this year after it was revealed that he had travelled from London to Durham during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown.

Dozens of Tory MPs publicly called for his resignation following the incident, including Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who resigned from his role as Scotland Office minister in protest.

SNP Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald said: “Boris Johnson's partnership with Dominic Cummings has caused lasting harm to the UK, and irreparable damage to the Tory government – regardless of whether he finally resigns amid the Downing Street civil war.

“The Tory Prime Minister has always been deeply unpopular in Scotland – but his decision to bring the Vote Leave campaign to the heart of the UK Government, and impose an extreme Brexit against our will, has completely alienated Scotland.

“The Tory government has never recovered from the reckless decision to cling on to Cummings when he broke lockdown rules. By refusing to suspend him, the Prime Minister did serious damage to public trust - and cemented his government's reputation as arrogant, incompetent, untrustworthy, and utterly self-serving.”

There has been mounting tension within Downing Street in recent weeks over the search for a new chief of staff for Johnson, a position which had been tipped for Lee Cain, a close ally of Cummings who worked with him on the Vote Leave referendum campaign

But Cain resigned as director of communications earlier this week. Cummings has dismissed rumours his own departure is linked to this.