Dominic Cummings: UK PM Boris Johnson's top adviser quits role

London, United Kingdom - Cummings decided not to stay in the post until Christmas as originally planned, according to reports.

Dominic Cummings, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's most powerful adviser, will stop working for Downing Street in mid-December as Johnson tries to reset his premiership after a series of failures in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

Cummings, expected to stay until around Christmas, was pictured by a Reuters photographer clutching a box as he left Johnson's office in No. 10 Downing Street on Friday evening.

The BBC, Sky News and other media outlets reported that Cummings had left his role for good, abruptly reducing the sway of Brexit hardliners in Johnson's government.

But No. 10 said Cummings would continue to work for Johnson until mid-December, although it was unclear in what capacity and whether he would return to the building.

Johnson is grappling with factional fighting over the future direction of the government just as he struggles to contain Europe's deadliest Covid-19 outbreak, establish a rapport with US President-elect Joe Biden and master the delicate diplomacy of a last-minute Brexit trade agreement.

Cummings, who masterminded the 2016 Brexit referendum vote and Johnson's 2019 landslide election win, had told the BBC that he wanted to be largely redundant by the end of this year, once Britain has left informal membership of the European Union.

Critics said that while the upheaval in Downing Street was unwelcome at a time of national crisis, the announcement marked the end of Cummings' policy clout.

"I think that Dom now, so far as Westminster is concerned, is a busted flush," said one Conservative lawmaker who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Johnson is under pressure from Conservative parliamentarians to recast his administration and get a grip of the pandemic which is decimating the economy.

JOHNSON'S 'BRAIN'

The exit of Johnson's influential right-hand man marks one of the most significant changes to the prime minister's inner circle so far: Cummings was cast by some as Johnson's "brain".

A committed Brexiteer, he was seen by European diplomats as a hardline influence on Johnson over Brexit and the proponent of Madman Theory - a reference to former US president Richard Nixon's attempt to contain the Soviet Union during the Cold War by convincing Moscow that he was irrational.

Cummings, 48, educated at Oxford and married to the daughter of a baronet, scorned the British political establishment and hurled barbs at reporters and cabinet ministers alike.

He was cast in the Spitting Image satirical puppet show as an alien who repeatedly threatened Johnson with resignation.

With Johnson pondering decisions on future relations with the EU and the Covid-stricken economy that could impact British prosperity for a generation, the 56-year-old leader appeared trapped between rival factions.

The battle spilled into the open with the resignation of his director of communications, Lee Cain, a close Cummings ally who had been tipped as a new chief of staff.

The Westminster political bubble was awash with speculation that Johnson's fiancee Carrie Symonds aligned with Johnson's new press secretary Allegra Stratton to oust Cain - to the displeasure of Cummings, who then threatened to resign.

That set the scene for Johnson's victory in the 2019 election with the biggest majority his party has achieved since Margaret Thatcher's in 1987.