Dominic Cummings

Dominic Cummings
Born November 1971
Durham
Nationality British
Occupation Political adviser
Years active 1999-
Known for Special adviser to Michael Gove, 2010-14;
Campaign Director Vote Leave, 2015-6
Notable work "Some thoughts on education and political priorities"

Dominic Mckenzie Cummings (born November 1971)[1] is a British political advisor and strategist.

He served as the Campaign Director of Vote Leave, the official and successful campaign in favour of leaving the European Union for the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016.[2] He is a former special adviser to Michael Gove. He has a reputation for both his intelligence and divisiveness.[3][4][5]

Personal life and education

Cummings was born in Durham, son of an oil rig project manager and a special needs teacher. He was educated at Durham School and Exeter College, Oxford, graduating in 1994 with a First in Ancient and Modern History.[5]

He was married in December 2011 to Mary Wakefield, deputy editor of The Spectator and daughter of Sir Humphry Wakefield, of Chillingham Castle in Northumberland.[5]

Career

After university, Cummings moved to Russia for three years — he speaks Russian — and attempted to set up an airline connecting Samara and Vienna, which had only one flight.[5]

From 1999 to 2002, Cummings was campaign director at Business for Sterling, the campaign against the UK joining the Euro.[5] He was Director of Strategy for Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith for 8 months in 2002, aiming to modernise the Conservative Party (though he has never joined a political party). He soon quit in frustration at the introduction of what he saw as half-measures, labelling Duncan Smith "incompetent".[4] With James Frayne he founded the New Frontiers Foundation think-tank as its director; it launched in December 2003 and closed in March 2005.[6] Cummings led the campaign against a North-East Regional Assembly in 2004 and then moved to his father's farm in Durham and read widely.[5]

Cummings worked for Michael Gove from 2007 to January 2014, first in opposition and then as a special adviser in the Department of Education after the 2010 general election. He was Gove's chief of staff,[4] an appointment blocked by Andy Coulson until his own resignation.[5][7] In this capacity Cummings wrote a 240-page essay, "Some thoughts on education and political priorities",[8] about transforming Britain into a "meritocratic technopolis",[4] described by Patrick Wintour as "either mad, bad or brilliant – and probably a bit of all three."[7] He became known for his blunt style and "not suffering fools gladly", and as an idealist.[4][5] Many in Conservative Party headquarters disapproved of Cummings.[5] He left that post to start a free school. He had previously worked for the New Schools Network charity that advises free schools, as a volunteer from June 2009 and then as a paid freelancer from July to December 2010.[9][10] In 2014 Prime Minister David Cameron criticized Cummings as a "career psychopath".[11]

Vote Leave

Dominic Cummings became Campaign Director of Vote Leave upon the creation of the organisation in October 2015. He is credited with having created the official slogan of Vote Leave, "Take back control" and with being the leading strategist of the campaign.[12][13]

As Campaign Director of Vote Leave, Cummings was questioned and criticised by MPs at the Treasury Select Committee in April 2016 for creating leaflets for the campaign which could mislead members of the public into believing they were created by the NHS. The Economist described his arguments for euroscepticism as "optimistic".[2] His campaign strategy was summarised as: "Don’t talk about immigration"; "Do talk about business"; "Don’t make the referendum final"; "Do keep mentioning the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the over-reach of the European Union’s Court of Justice".[3] Board member of Vote Leave Bernard Jenkin tried to remove Cummings and merge Vote Leave with the other campaign, Leave.EU.[3] Cummings and Vote Leave CEO Matthew Elliott left the board in February 2016 following reported infighting.[14]

Vote Leave emerged victorious in the June 2016 referendum which resulted in a 52% vote to 'leave' the European Union. Upon victory, Cummings was praised alongside Vote Leave CEO, Matthew Elliot, as being one of the masterminds of the victorious campaign.[15]

He was named as one of "Debrett's 500 2016" people of influence.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Dominic Mckenzie CUMMINGS". Companies House. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "An interview with Dominic Cummings". Bagehot's notebook. The Economist. January 21, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Dico, Joy Lo (February 24, 2016). "How Will Straw and Dominic Cummings are pulling the strings of the EU Referendum power players". Evening Standard. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Bagehot (January 21, 2016). "An optimistic Eurosceptic. For Dominic Cummings, leaving the European Union is a first step in a British renaissance". The Economist.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Gimson, Andrew (May 15, 2014). "A profile of Dominic Cummings, friend of Gove and enemy of Clegg". Conservative Home.
  6. ↑ "It could have been so much worse". Social Affairs Unit blog. May 4, 2005. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Wintour, Patrick (October 11, 2013). "Dominic Cummings: genius or menace?". The Guardian. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  8. ↑ Cummings, Dominic (2013). "Some thoughts on education and political priorities" (PDF).
  9. ↑ Garner, Richard; Cusick, James (October 7, 2013). "Michael Gove's controversial adviser Dominic Cummings 'quits to open new free school'". The Independent. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  10. ↑ McClenaghan, Maeve (November 18, 2011). "Gove aide given parliamentary pass while at New Schools Network". The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  11. ↑ Mason, Rowena (June 18, 2014). "PM backs Michael Gove but suggests former aide was a 'career psychopath'". The Guardian. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  12. ↑ Mance, Henry; Parker, George (2016-06-14). "Combative Brexiter who took control of Vote Leave operation". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-08-11.
  13. ↑ "Matthew Elliott on Vote Leave's 'genius moment'". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  14. ↑ Wilson, Jeremy (February 4, 2016). "Everyone in the campaign to get Britain out of the EU is stabbing each other in the back". Business Insider UK. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  15. ↑ Payne, Sebastian (2016-06-24). "How Vote Leave won the EU referendum". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  16. ↑ "Dominic Cummings". Debrett's. Retrieved June 18, 2016.

External links

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