All kinds of lessons can be drawn from the debacle of Dominic Cummings’ road trip to the north-east, and different political meanings squeezed out of this extraordinary episode. But in the context of a growing clamour to pin the blame for England’s seemingly poor response to the coronavirus pandemic on the decisions made by ministers and advisers, we should think, too, about whether the wider machinery of British governance should also be held accountable.
To his critics, Cummings is the personification of the unaccountable and centralised character of executive authority that sits at the apex of British government. And while the influence of individual advisers on prime ministers has been a long-running theme in British politics, Cummings’ unrivalled dominance over Boris Johnson’s administration is without obvious precedent in recent political history. Also distinctive is his inveterate critique of the state over which he has assumed such influence. His conviction here is shared by a number of other influential Conservatives. For them, the need to “fix Whitehall” – as Danny Kruger put it in a private message to his fellow Tory MPs – is one of the main reasons, along with Brexit, why Cummings is so important to this government.
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