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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2019/oct/13/dominic-cummingss-big-ego-has-been-a-gift-for-the-press
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| Dominic Cummings’s big ego has been a gift for the press | Dominic Cummings’s big ego has been a gift for the press |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| When journalists land a scoop it’s only natural for them to boast about its significance. So I guess we can forgive James Forsyth, the Spectator’s political editor, for his hyperbolic claim last week that he had been the recipient of “the most explosive Downing Street memo in modern times”. | When journalists land a scoop it’s only natural for them to boast about its significance. So I guess we can forgive James Forsyth, the Spectator’s political editor, for his hyperbolic claim last week that he had been the recipient of “the most explosive Downing Street memo in modern times”. |
| In fairness, it was hugely interesting, and not just for its content. It was a rare example of a supposedly confidential source being cavalier about his own identity. Step forward Dominic Cummings, special adviser to Boris Johnson. Allegedly? No, for sure. | In fairness, it was hugely interesting, and not just for its content. It was a rare example of a supposedly confidential source being cavalier about his own identity. Step forward Dominic Cummings, special adviser to Boris Johnson. Allegedly? No, for sure. |
| Eventually, despite a measure of initial reticence, several newspapers felt confident enough to name him. | Eventually, despite a measure of initial reticence, several newspapers felt confident enough to name him. |
| This episode was further proof that Brexit is changing Britain’s political and journalistic culture. It certainly merits the description as the most explosive political event since … well, since any living politician and living political journalist can remember. Quite simply, there has been nothing like it in the collective experience of Westminster and Fleet Street. | This episode was further proof that Brexit is changing Britain’s political and journalistic culture. It certainly merits the description as the most explosive political event since … well, since any living politician and living political journalist can remember. Quite simply, there has been nothing like it in the collective experience of Westminster and Fleet Street. |
| Dominic Cummings accused of conflict of interest over NHS fund | Dominic Cummings accused of conflict of interest over NHS fund |
| Let’s deal first with the significance of the memo’s eye-popping content. | Let’s deal first with the significance of the memo’s eye-popping content. |
| Cummings was detailing the government’s game plan should it be necessary to extend the Brexit deadline still further. In that event, to quote the Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff, No 10 was, in effect, “threatening almighty vengeance”. | Cummings was detailing the government’s game plan should it be necessary to extend the Brexit deadline still further. In that event, to quote the Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff, No 10 was, in effect, “threatening almighty vengeance”. |
| Aside from providing a delighted Forsyth with an intimate view of the state of the negotiations, it not only revealed No 10’s strategy but also its frustration over the failure to achieve its primary objective to take the UK out of the EU on 31 October. | Aside from providing a delighted Forsyth with an intimate view of the state of the negotiations, it not only revealed No 10’s strategy but also its frustration over the failure to achieve its primary objective to take the UK out of the EU on 31 October. |
| Then came the pushback, the threat of a drama to come. Cummings wrote of “legal advice” that means “we can do all sorts of things to scupper delay which for obvious reasons we aren’t going into details about”. | Then came the pushback, the threat of a drama to come. Cummings wrote of “legal advice” that means “we can do all sorts of things to scupper delay which for obvious reasons we aren’t going into details about”. |
| We must presume Cummings’s “leak” was intended as a message to MPs from all parties and, possibly, Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, along with EU leaders in Brussels. But what was striking was his flagrancy. It was as if he wanted to be recognised as the author. Here was a man, blandly described in time-honoured fashion by Forsyth as “a contact in No 10”, virtually outing himself as the source. | We must presume Cummings’s “leak” was intended as a message to MPs from all parties and, possibly, Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, along with EU leaders in Brussels. But what was striking was his flagrancy. It was as if he wanted to be recognised as the author. Here was a man, blandly described in time-honoured fashion by Forsyth as “a contact in No 10”, virtually outing himself as the source. |
| This was so unusual that, in spite of political journalists knowing his identity, several felt constrained from saying so. Instead, their reports referred to him with the usual range of indirect terms: “a No 10 source” (the Times and Daily Express); “a senior government source” (Daily Mail); and “aides” (the Sun, pluralising an individual). | This was so unusual that, in spite of political journalists knowing his identity, several felt constrained from saying so. Instead, their reports referred to him with the usual range of indirect terms: “a No 10 source” (the Times and Daily Express); “a senior government source” (Daily Mail); and “aides” (the Sun, pluralising an individual). |
| Others were less inhibited. The Daily Telegraph referred to “a memo widely believed to be a text sent by Dominic Cummings”. The Guardian was a little more guarded. It reported that Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland secretary, had “issued a rebuke to the person who briefed anonymously to the Spectator, believed to be the prime minister’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings”. | Others were less inhibited. The Daily Telegraph referred to “a memo widely believed to be a text sent by Dominic Cummings”. The Guardian was a little more guarded. It reported that Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland secretary, had “issued a rebuke to the person who briefed anonymously to the Spectator, believed to be the prime minister’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings”. |
| Memo from 'No 10 contact' seen as fresh play in blame game | Memo from 'No 10 contact' seen as fresh play in blame game |
| Simon Walters, in the Mail, did not hold back. He wrote: “The Downing Street ‘source’ quoted by the Spectator bore the unmistakably contemptuous and crude tone of Johnson’s de facto chief of staff Dominic Cummings.” While that sentence could be said to reflect Walters’s personal animosity towards Cummings, I tend to think it speaks volumes about the changing political viewpoint of the Mail itself. There’s a story in the making. | Simon Walters, in the Mail, did not hold back. He wrote: “The Downing Street ‘source’ quoted by the Spectator bore the unmistakably contemptuous and crude tone of Johnson’s de facto chief of staff Dominic Cummings.” While that sentence could be said to reflect Walters’s personal animosity towards Cummings, I tend to think it speaks volumes about the changing political viewpoint of the Mail itself. There’s a story in the making. |
| Back to Cummings. Whatever one thinks of him, there is something wonderfully refreshing about his way of going about his business. His memo to Forsyth is part of a pattern. He has not concealed his fingerprints on a number of previous leaks from No 10, especially in the lead-up to the supreme court ruling against the prorogation of parliament. | Back to Cummings. Whatever one thinks of him, there is something wonderfully refreshing about his way of going about his business. His memo to Forsyth is part of a pattern. He has not concealed his fingerprints on a number of previous leaks from No 10, especially in the lead-up to the supreme court ruling against the prorogation of parliament. |
| Not for Cummings the usual backroom role of an adviser. No smoke and mirrors for him. He is a very public eminence grise who enjoys the limelight and, apparently, revels in the consequent notoriety. He appears determined to be his own man rather than be part of someone else’s story. | Not for Cummings the usual backroom role of an adviser. No smoke and mirrors for him. He is a very public eminence grise who enjoys the limelight and, apparently, revels in the consequent notoriety. He appears determined to be his own man rather than be part of someone else’s story. |
| Whether or not this is bad for the country – we shall see – it cannot be denied it’s rather good for our trade. We thrive on colourful characters courting controversy. Journalism is often the beneficiary of big egos in the sense that, in promoting themselves, they inevitably provide stories. One problem for Cummings is how he deals with journalists in the coming weeks. Can he hope to brief on an entirely confidential basis? With this and other lengthy examples of his writing style in the public domain, it’s impossible to conceal his authorship. Then again, he obviously doesn’t want to be anonymous. | Whether or not this is bad for the country – we shall see – it cannot be denied it’s rather good for our trade. We thrive on colourful characters courting controversy. Journalism is often the beneficiary of big egos in the sense that, in promoting themselves, they inevitably provide stories. One problem for Cummings is how he deals with journalists in the coming weeks. Can he hope to brief on an entirely confidential basis? With this and other lengthy examples of his writing style in the public domain, it’s impossible to conceal his authorship. Then again, he obviously doesn’t want to be anonymous. |
| It is unlikely that the Cummings way will lead to a change in how political journalists obtain their information. Down the years there has often been criticism about the cosiness of the lobby system and the opacity of Westminster and Whitehall sources. But it’s a necessity. Off-the-record conversations allow information to reach the public domain that would otherwise remain secret. | It is unlikely that the Cummings way will lead to a change in how political journalists obtain their information. Down the years there has often been criticism about the cosiness of the lobby system and the opacity of Westminster and Whitehall sources. But it’s a necessity. Off-the-record conversations allow information to reach the public domain that would otherwise remain secret. |
| Nor, as some critics believe, is it a system widely open to abuse. Reporters working in a competitive media environment police each other by checking on the truth of an opponent’s story. Indeed, when scoops occur, one of the more unedifying practices is the hunt for the source by rivals. Although one’s own confidential sources must be respected, other people’s are not. | Nor, as some critics believe, is it a system widely open to abuse. Reporters working in a competitive media environment police each other by checking on the truth of an opponent’s story. Indeed, when scoops occur, one of the more unedifying practices is the hunt for the source by rivals. Although one’s own confidential sources must be respected, other people’s are not. |
| Most of the time, the system of unattributable briefings is uncontroversial and, in such circumstances, single sourcing is also accepted as the norm. No one can conceive of doing it differently. Even in the US, where a culture of openness contrasts with Britain’s more secretive climate, journalists rely on “deep background” to flesh out their stories. Politics thrives on concealment of some kind. | |
| So, in spite of the darkness of his message, let me applaud Cummings, the messenger who has stepped out of the shadows. We may not have him for long, of course, but let’s enjoy him while we can. | So, in spite of the darkness of his message, let me applaud Cummings, the messenger who has stepped out of the shadows. We may not have him for long, of course, but let’s enjoy him while we can. |
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