Dominic Cummings: Number 10 is 'enjoying' Brexit row

Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s most senior adviser, has admitted Number 10 is “enjoying” the febrile political atmosphere caused by Brexit.

Boris Johnson’s de facto chief of staff was unrepentant about the heightened tensions in Parliament and the rest of the country, pointing the blame at MPs for not accepting the EU referendum result.

Mr Cummings, who ran the successful Vote Leave campaign in 2016, said the Commons should not be surprised by widespread anger towards MPs for not pushing through Brexit.

Speaking at a book launch in central London on Thursday night, Downing Street’s chief strategist said it was “odd” that MPs were complaining about their treatment by the electorate.

Dominic Cummings is Boris Johnsons de facto chief of staff. Picture: PA

No surprises

"It is not surprising some people are angry about it,” he told the audience.

Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in London. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

"In the end the situation can only be resolved by Parliament honouring its promise to respect the result."

He added: "We are enjoying this, we are going to leave and we are going to win."

Mr Cummings added that pro-Remain MPs were unable to “listen to reason” and had become “really badly disconnected” from people living outside the Westminster bubble.

In a confrontation with Labour MP Karl Turner in Westminster, the strategist told the shadow minister to "get Brexit done" if he wanted to see the political discourse calm.

The PM caused upset during fiery exchanges in the Commons where he repeatedly described attempts to block no-deal as the "surrender act".

'Humbug'

He also dismissed a Labour MP's complaint that his "inflammatory" language risked provoking attacks as "humbug".

Mr Johnson and his Number 10 team believe their tactic of blaming MPs for the Brexit delay will pay dividends in any forthcoming election.

The strategy appears to be working as a YouGov poll on Friday, the first since Mr Johnson rejected MPs’ concerns as “humbug”, showed the Tories were up by 3 percentage points, and 11 points ahead of Labour.

The survey showed the Conservatives were on course for 33 per cent of the vote, while Labour was down 1 point to 22 per cent of the vote, level with the Liberal Democrats.

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