There is no doubt that Dominic Cummings is the key man in the Flatulent Leader’s government: the organ-grinder to whose tune the monkey dances.  It seems his influence can hardly be overstated.  He it is who has set the direction of government, and he who has selected the team, a process which included the defenestration of the FL’s first pick as chancellor.  But his departure will be at a terrible for Johnson:  if he goes the FL will flounder even further out of his depth.

Go he should.   The clamour is increasing.   Those ministers  and MPs who have defended him have demeaned themselves.  A  situation in which there is one rule for those in government and another for the rest is distasteful and untenable.  And the fact is that Cummings has been, for some time, a disaster waiting to happen.

Johnson would be wise to recognise the situation and take charge instead of issuing denials that simply serve to make him look weak and needy.  If Cummings has to go it would be better to  make that look like a decision of government rather than one forced on it.  We were given ample warning that the FL was not up to the job, that he would preside over shambles and chaos with no thought for anything but his own self-interest.  Now we begin to see the cost.