Dominic Cummings
(1971-present)

Aged 53

Dominic Mckenzie Cummings (born 25 November 1971) is a British political strategist who served as Chief Adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 24 July 2019 until Cummings resigned on 13 November 2020. From 2007 to 2014, he was a special adviser to Michael Gove, including the time that Gove served as Education Secretary, leaving when Gove was made Chief Whip in a cabinet reshuffle. From 2015 to 2016, Cummings was director of Vote Leave, an organisation which successfully executed the 2016 referendum campaign for Britain's exit from the European Union. After Johnson was appointed Prime Minister in July 2019, Cummings was appointed as Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister. Cummings had a contentious relationship with Chancellor Sajid Javid which culminated in Javid's resignation in February 2020 after he refused to comply with Cummings's request to dismiss his special advisers. A scandal involving Cummings occurred in May 2020, after it was reported that he travelled to his parents' farm in Durham during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown while experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. 45 Conservative MPs called for his resignation and Cummings was criticised by opposition parties for noncompliance with public health restrictions. After Cummings held a press conference explaining his journey, Johnson supported his chief adviser by saying Cummings had acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity". Durham police said that they did not consider an offence was committed when Cummings travelled from London to Durham and that a minor breach might have occurred in travelling from there to Barnard Castle. The scandal negatively affected the public's trust in the government's pandemic response. After leaving Downing Street in November 2020, Cummings has criticised the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Johnson's leadership.

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