12-11-20, 15:23
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#10
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re: HERO Capt Tom Moore 100, in Hospital with COVID & Pneumonia
Feuding at No.10 Explodes Into Open as Top Aide Quits After Opposition to Dominic Cummings
PM Boris's adviser quits in power battle - Fears more aides will follow Lee Cain after revolt led by Carrie Symonds, the PM's fiancee
Carrie Symonds is at odds with several of key No 10 advisers
BBC News, 11 NOV 2020
Mr Cain, right, with fellow Vote Leave veteran Dominic Cummings Credit: Adrian Dennis/PA
Boris Johnson was trying to prevent an exodus of Downing Street staff on Wednesday night after a key aide resigned following a public power struggle with the Prime Minister's fiancée Carrie Symonds....
Key aide Lee Cain, No 10's director of communications, resigned last night Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson's most senior adviser, is understood to now be considering his position.
Mr Cain announced he would quit after Ms Symonds effectively vetoed his promotion to chief of staff and amid an extraordinary briefing battle.
Lee Cain arrived for work on Thursday, having already handed in his notice to No 10
He will leave next month, despite being offered a promotion to chief of staff.
His departure prompted speculation about the future of the PM's chief adviser Dominic Cummings, but the BBC was told he would stay for now.
No 10 denied Mr Johnson had been distracted by the saga, saying he was "fully focussed" on tackling Covid.
Mr Cain has been at the PM's side since he was a press officer for the Vote Leave campaign under Mr Cummings.
Many will not have heard of him before the story broke, but his resignation comes at a time when the government is facing big decisions over its coronavirus strategy and the future of post-Brexit trade with the EU.
After a number of rows and U-turns within government in recent months, No 10 will see communications as key in connecting with the country and trying to gain support for its decisions.
The news that Mr Cain - who worked with Mr Cummings and the PM in the Vote Leave campaign to get Britain out of the EU - could become Mr Johnson's chief of staff had led to consternation among some MPs and ministers, said BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
One Tory source even suggested that Mr Johnson's fiancee, Carrie Symonds - a former head of communications for the Conservatives - had misgivings about that plan.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told LBC Radio: "This is pathetic. I think millions of people will be waking up this morning, scratching their heads, saying what on earth is going on?
"We're in the middle of a pandemic, we're all worried about our health and our families, we're all worried about our jobs, and this lot are squabbling behind the door of No 10. Pull yourselves together, focus on the job in hand."
But the PM's spokesman said Mr Johnson was concentrating on fighting coronavirus, adding: "You can see the progress we are making, in terms of rolling out mass testing, in securing vaccines and also in terms of making improvements to test and trace."
Until now, the cracks spreading through Team Johnson during the Covid crisis had been largely under wraps.
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