Union unit: Oliver Lewis quits Number 10 after two weeks in office

The Prime Minister’s main adviser on fighting Scottish independence has quit his role less than a fortnight after being appointed as head of the Union unit.

Number 10 Downing Street picture: PA

Vote Leave veteran Oliver Lewis, who worked with Boris Johnson on Brexit campaigns, is reported to have said his position was being made “untenable” by others in Number 10.

Mr Lewis, an ally of the prime minister's former chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, took his position in Downing Street’s Union unit following the exit of former Scottish Conservative MP Luke Graham earlier this month.

His departure, after less two weeks in a position were he was trusted to help derail the ever growing support for independence, comes with May’s Holyrood elections now just around the corner.

In response to news of Mr Lewis’s departure, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "Disunity in the Union unit. Or maybe just despair at realising how threadbare the case for it is."

Downing Street declined to comment on staffing matters following news of Mr Lewis’s exit.

The SNP’s Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald claimed Mr Johnson’s “taxpayer-funded anti-independence campaign" is “completely falling apart”.

She said: “Oliver Lewis becomes the second Head of the Tory Union Unit to quit in a fortnight.

"As support for independence grows, the Tories are losing advisers like rats on a sinking ship. People in Scotland have a right to determine their own future in a post-pandemic referendum. Boris Johnson knows he cannot deny democracy any more than Donald Trump.

"The issue at the election in May will be this: who has the right to decide what sort of country we should be after the pandemic - the people of Scotland or Boris Johnson? The only way to ensure Scotland's future is in Scotland's hands not Boris Johnson's is with both votes SNP."

Despite ousting former Ochil and South Perthshire MP Mr Graham – last Scot left in the Union Unit – earlier this month, allies said there were still Scottish people involved in the group including the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove.

Downing Street has previously declined to answer the question when asked if there were any Scottish people left working within the unit.

The prime minister’s spokesman told The Scotsman: "I am obviously not going to list individuals, but there are Scottish people working on union issues across the Government."

The unit, which was set up shortly after Boris Johnson became prime minister in July 2019, aims to develop policies which help strengthen the UK and focuses on “making the benefits of the union clear, visible and understood.”

Mr Johnson has described the referendum on Scotland independence in 2014 as a "once-in-a-generation" vote and said it should not happen again.

The SNP has previously accused the UK Government of allowing a ‘Vote Leave’ takeover of the unit, but insiders have said this is not something that will guide the approach.

Lewis’s departure followed the unexpected promotion of Frost to a seat around the cabinet table earlier this week.

Frost’s new role, in which he will also chair the partnership council overseeing the implementation of the EU trade agreement he negotiated, came after several allies of Michael Gove were given plum jobs in No 10.

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