Thread by @Telegraph

The cracks in the PM's team during the Covid-19 crisis had been largely under wraps.

But the surprise resignation of Lee Cain, No 10's director of communications, revealed a power struggle in Downing Street.

We look at what happened in this *thread* ⬇️
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…

Along with Dominic Cummings, the PM's senior adviser, Mr Cain was one of the key players in the Vote Leave campaign who were brought into Government by Boris Johnson

📸: John Sibley/Reuters

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…

Mr Cain quit after he was offered the role of chief of staff, which sparked protests in Number 10 from ministers, advisers and even the Prime Minister's fiancée Carrie Symonds

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…

For months now, there have been rumours of a growing ruckus over who really has the Prime Minister's ear:

🔹 On one side, Dominic Cummings

🔹 On the other, Carrie Symonds

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…

Mr Cummings and Mr Cain have been accused of presiding over a ‘laddish’ culture in Downing Street, prompting complaints from female advisers that they have been picked on in meetings
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/1…

👉 What now?

Chief of staff is a political appointment, with the office holder working closely with the PM on policy formation and government communications.

There are some political big beasts who could be Mr Johnson's new chief of staff: telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…

Mr Cummings had made it clear some weeks earlier that if Mr Cain resigned he would go too – and take others with him.

But Mr Johnson's late-night call averted a mass resignation
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…

👉 The analysis from our experts

"Right now, the Prime Minister needs Cummings’s many enemies more than he needs the man himself," writes @RossjournoClark
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/1…

"The Cain-Cummings drama is exciting, if that’s your cup of tea. But it is just the latest episode of Britain’s long-running political soap opera," writes @MrTCHarris
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…

'Dominic Cummings slouched and plodded his way into Downing Street this morning like a condemned man bound for the gallows,' writes @Madz_Grant
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/1…

"As battles rage around Boris Johnson, it's no wonder some are asking who is really in charge," writes @CamillaTominey

https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1326968757374214144