What do his predecessors think of Dominic Cummings’s attempt to reshape the prime minister’s office?

A group of former political advisers is being assembled to comment on the latest plans to revamp No 10, writes John Rentoul

Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings leave 10 Downing Street  (Getty)

A galaxy of stars of what Professor Peter Hennessy, the historian, calls the “special adviserdom” will be assembled by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee of MPs tomorrow, to give their views on “the role and status of the prime minister’s office”. 

Appearing before the committee, presumably via Zoom, will be: Fiona Hill, joint chief of staff to Theresa May for her first year as prime minister; Polly Mackenzie, director of policy in Nick Clegg’s office when he was deputy prime minister; Jonathan Powell, chief of staff to Tony Blair; Professor Sir Geoff Mulgan, head of the No 10 policy unit and then the strategy unit under Blair; and John Redwood, the Conservative MP who was head of Margaret Thatcher’s policy unit.

They were all special advisers – political appointees rather than civil servants – who worked at the heart of government. That is the high-powered seminar convened by William Wragg, the independent-minded 32-year-old Conservative MP who chairs the committee, to pass judgement on the latest attempt to re-order what is known as “the centre” of government.