Alastair Campbell has warned that Boris Johnson is “days away” from brokering a “terrible” Brexit deal now that his key adviser has announced his resignation.
The New European‘s editor-at-large said the UK was on course to crash out of the Brexit transition period on January 1, or be subject to a ‘bad’ trade deal.
Speaking on the news of Dominic Cummings’ resignation, Campbell – himself a former senior adviser to Labour prime minister Tony Blair – said now was the time to ‘clean out” Downing Street.
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He told BBC’s Newsnight: “The challenges facing the government at the moment are absolutely enormous.
“Covid is at 50,000 deaths and the highest number of cases for months. You’ve got Brexit, where we’ve really got days left to decide whether we’re going to get no deal or a terrible deal that Johnson will probably end up with.
“And a new American president who is shaking the moorings of the more populist governments around the world.
“These are all things that require real focus and the real attention of the prime minister.”
He added: “For the prime minister to have to be sorting out this kind of squabbling going on is draining.
“It’s simply just draining what’s left of his authority away.”
The remarks come after prime minister’s senior political adviser confirmed after days of speculation that he would be leaving No 10 by Christmas.
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The announcement came a matter of hours after fellow Vote Leave campaigner Lee Cain quit as Johnson’s director of communications after being Johnson offered him the job of chief of staff and then withdrew the offer.
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