To be horrified that an unelected aide has so much power

[Mammylamb]

Talking about Dominic Cummings here: how on earth has he gotten so powerful??

Peter Mandelson was an elected MP, for Hartlepool, 1992 to 2004. So, elected more than once.

Advisors have held this kind of power for years - that's why The Thick of It was written! Think of Alastair Campbell for Blair and Bernard Ingham for Thatcher.

Dominic Cummings is on another level altogether. The ones who have preceded him pale into insignificance beside him in terms of the way he operates. And to think such seemingly powerful and controlling people are unelected. It is shocking.

He is probably at the more unhinged end undoubtedly. I believe he is what's known as a 'disrupter'. The documentary about him and the Leave campaign was very insightful.

Daily Mail also wading in to tell the PM to get rid on Cummings.

I must admit, I’m surprised by Johnson. It’s a bit of a shock to realise that the bumbling oaf persona that we’ve always been told is just an act, really isn’t, and he is literally just a bumbling oaf rather that the master strategist we were all led to believe

I don't think Boris is remotely a bumbling oaf. Sadly I do think he is a bully. And I'm quite dismayed by how he is behaving. Whereas I understand why he prorogued parliament, in isolation I could accept it, but the way he behaves at the dispatch box, firing those MPs, isn't right.

Cummings is a conundrum, an mp openly suggested to Boris in the house yesterday he fire him. I suspect as Boris is a bully he agrees with Cummings bullying approach.

What's surprised me though, loathsome leadsom, even she looked really unsure after the first defeat when interviewed and tentatively suggested Boris might not follow through and fire them, but she looked nervous and upset, not her usual arrogant self, so I think many of them don't like Boris's approach,

Thr mp for Guildford said she want to see Boris and explained she was worried about loosing it, and he responsed with well if we do we do, he didn't give a shit,

I can understand why his brother has just quit. I don't think anyone anticipated boris's approach.

Good post @Bluntness100. So Boris’s brother has quit. Hmmm - that speaks volumes.

Boris has even succeeded in making Corbyn look statesmanlike. Some feat.

I suspect there will be more resignations. God knows what's going on behind closed doors, but I would guess there are many of them who don't like what's going on.

There has only been one other PM to lose the first bill they put forward, Pitt the Younger in 1784 - Boris is the first to lose three in a row. So Cummings is hardly a winning master strategist as Boris has an unenviable place in history now for being crap!

So Cummings is hardly a winning master strategist as Boris has an unenviable place in history now for being crap!

If it wasn’t so dire, it would be laughable.

I am not a fan of Boris (or his adviser) so I am enjoying the defeats but that is tempered by the knowledge that we won't look good on the world stage. It is embarassing.

I wish Theresa May had thrown him out of the party when he voted against the Government!

I am not a fan either, but I am not enjoying the defeats. We have the oldest parliamentary democracy in the world. It is the mother of many other parliaments. All systems require people to act in good faith. That good faith has bee replaced by conniving political games on both sides.

Throughout that long history I cannot think of a time when so many MPs of all persuasions on Brexit have behaved so appallingly badly. They are deliberately misusing parliamentary conventions to frustrate each other. It is a metaphorical bun fight of such epic proportions that it threatens the very foundation of our democracy. It is also so all-consuming that there is no room left for the many other very serious issues that need parliamentary and civil service time. It makes me really very angry.

Poorly phrased - sorry. That is how angry I am. The all persuasions is on contentious issues like Brexit.

I've just been reading the Fail website and they are claiming that Cummings has a 'different interpretation' of the no-no-deal bill and that he thinks Boris can ignore it. This will be interesting ....