Sir, – Noel O'Connell finds it "ironic" that UK voters, who seemingly had an aversion to "unelected bureaucrats in Brussels" appear silent on the question of the "unelected mandarin currently pulling the strings at Westminster" (Letters, January 26th).
This is obviously a reference to Dominic Cummings, who is currently fulfilling the role that Alastair Campbell performed for Tony Blair. (Unlike Mr Campbell, however, Mr Cummings has not as yet dragged the UK into an illegal war). All political parties have such strategists. Had Jeremy Corbyn been returned as prime minister , rather than overseeing the Labour Party’s worst performance since 1935, “unelected mandarin” Seumas Milne would currently be “pulling the strings at Westminster”.
Mr Cummings is a figure of fascination for the press and is written about at great length on both sides of the Irish Sea. He has been hiding in plain sight ever since he was appointed as senior adviser to Boris Johnson on July 24th, 2019.
Far from being “silent” on the matter, UK voters have spoken, as all electorates do, at the ballot box last December, endorsing the strategy devised by Mr Cummings and Mr Johnson and returning a thumping 80-seat majority for the Tories, based in no small part on their pro-Brexit stance.
The difference – a crucial distinction that most Irish commentators choose to ignore – is that Mr Johnson, his senior adviser and the entire Conservative government can be slung out by that same electorate at the next general election, should the voters want rid of them.
As for the “unelected bureaucrats in Brussels”, we are stuck with them for the foreseeable future. – Yours, etc,
SIMON O’NEILL,
Dublin 3.