Dominic Cummings has outlined a two-year plan to overhaul British politics, calling for a billionaire to fund Nigel Farage's retirement and for a new political entity to replace the "broken old parties."
The former chief advisor to Boris Johnson, who was ousted from Downing Street in 2020, made the remarks during a public lecture at Newcastle University. Tickets sold out in four minutes, according to the event's organisers.
Cummings' critique of Westminster
Speaking for over 40 minutes, Cummings delivered a wide-ranging critique of British politics. He claimed human rights legislation allows terrorists out of jail to kill, that the Government sold low orbit satellites he purchased because they didn't understand them, and that Boris Johnson let more people in than ever despite Brexit being voted for to reduce immigration.
He described the Westminster establishment as "knackered," a word he used repeatedly. His contempt for political leaders was even-handed: Andy Burnham is a "clown," Kemi Badenoch "shouldn't have even a middle-ranking job in any serious British Government," and Nigel Farage "had the opportunity to change things" but "hires the most useless Tory dregs imaginable."
The grand plan
Cummings told the audience that "in this room alone, we could muster a better Cabinet than the whole of Parliament can." He argued that "the British people are going to have to take back control of their Parliament," which means "a new political entity or taking over political entities."
He said: "We were a great country, we can be the best country in the world again but we can't if we carry on letting the broken old parties and the broken old civil service be in charge."
He called for "a section of talented people from the country" to go to Westminster, "give up your happy lives for 10 years and sort out Government."
Billionaire and a legendary figure
Cummings said the first step is a billionaire who will pay Nigel Farage £50m to retire and encourage "someone of unquestionable talent, achievement and courage" to replace him. He drew parallels with the 2015 Brexit campaign, noting that "the old system is knackered" and that "they couldn't stop me and a bunch of other people at a start-up winning the referendum."
He argued: "Two years is an age. Nowadays, everything you need in politics can be built more than 10 times faster than ever in history. We need one legendary person to step forward."
Cummings said he is "trying to push them out of their comfortable life" and that "if that one person steps forward, they'll get 10 people and then 100,000 people and we'll win."
After the lecture, as the audience streamed out, few appeared to be preparing for an assault on Government.
