British Prime Minister Johnson’s Top Advisor Dominic Cummings Steps Down

Dominic Cummings, the controversial brains behind the 2016 Brexit campaign, on Friday stepped down as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top aide

Amid speculation that he would leave the government at the end of the year, Dominic Cummings was pictured Friday leaving from the front door at 10 Downing Street.

Cummings, a chief architect of the campaign to have Britain leave the European Union, has been a divisive figure inside the Conservative government since Johnson became prime minister 16 months ago.

His position weakened earlier this year after he drove hundreds of miles across England after contracting Covid-19, violating national lockdown rules and leaving the impression that elite officials didn’t have to obey the same onerous rules as everyone else.

The episode fuelled criticism of the government’s handling of the pandemic after delays in the expansion of testing and efforts to avoid a second national lockdown in England.

That lockdown was finally imposed last week, but it couldn’t stop the UK from becoming the first country in Europe to pass 50,000 deaths during the pandemic.