Boris Johnson should make most of Dominic Cummings exit – The Yorkshire Post says

There are now less than 50 days to go until the transition period ends and, very imminently, the Prime Minister has to decide whether a trade deal with the European Union is still possible or not.

Either way, this decision will have profound consequences and Mr Johnson, and his team, need to be focusing on this – and the small matter of the Covid-19 pandemic as the UK death toll exceeds 50,000 – rather than the bitter turf war being waged by his inner circle.

Even though Mr Cummings had, by reputation, become toxic and undeserving of the loyalty shown to him when he breached the first lockdown, the current antics are a distraction that risk playing into the hands of Mr Johnson’s critics.

It is now up to the Prime Minister to assert his authority by turning this crisis – the term ‘soap opera’ does it a disservice – into an opportunity.

As a premier reputed to be much less hands-on than all of his predecessors, he needs to appoint a top team, from a chief of staff to individual members of Cabinet, based on their competence rather than their credentials as Brexiteers as EU negotiations reach their denouement. There’s a subtle difference. They need to be less confrontational.

But it’s also opportune, as rebuilding the economy takes on added urgency as both Brexit and Covid-19 coalesce, to reshape the Government’s priorities so the climate change, green energy and levelling up agendas come to define the next phase of Mr Johnson’s premiership.

If not, he, and his government, risk being undermined by the more disloyal of his underlings who have already shown that they will exploit any vacuum to advance personal agendas. And squabbles.

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