Thread by @abcpoppins

Playbook gossip from No 10 aides on rule of Dom:

“Dom would often go dark. For long periods and in critical moments he was simply absent from the building and unreachable. Most basic decisions, which bc of his all-pervading authority needed his sign off piled up in his in box

most of which went unanswered. Most decision-making simply became a matter of guessing what Dom would do — an odd way of forcing everyone to be brainwashed into the mind of Dom. He was entirely uninterested in 99 percent of issues or crises, leaving the No. 10 staff leaderless.”

“Dom was constantly running a parallel briefing operation above Lee’s head, speaking daily to journalists himself, while both slagged off the same reporters — the biggest names in the lobby — in meetings.

Officials knew this, meaning no one could go to him for reliable advice or judgment of media issues. Often the PM was confused at stories appearing in the papers which stated plans he did not support or had not decided on — only to realize they had emanated from his own team.”

“Sycophants imitated him and he imported a gang of yes men (mostly men) to act as his lieutenants on public payroll ... a collection of strange ppl with no social skills who alienated officials and colleagues and contributed nothing to govt. We wondered what they did all day.”

“Cummings is not an evil genius he is ultimately a tragic figure. He embodies everything wrong with Westminster political elite. He is an oddball, entirely self obsessed, egoistical thinking he is smarter than everybody else while knowing next to nothing beyond superficial waffle

“In the process he duped us all, damaged the perception of the U.K. on the world stage, and nearly derailed the premiership of the most popular Tory PM since Churchill. One day he himself will admit it — it was all BS.”

Bye bye: The third aide put it more succinctly. “The Sunday papers show why we’re better off without them. The reign of error is over.”