Dominic Cummings’ legacy will permeate society for years to come – unless Labour stops relying on spin

The adviser’s influence is not easily undone. What is needed from Keir Starmer is substance, not a repeat of café culture or regeneration masterplans, writes Ed Dorrell

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If you’re in any doubt about how it feels to live in the afterburn of a Dominic Cummings revolution, go and talk to your nearest teacher.

They would point out that while he might have only worked as an adviser to Michael Gove in the Department for Education for three years, the consequences of Cummings’ slash and burn approach to making policy are still being felt long after his boss was given the heave by David Cameron.

Six years later, teachers and heads are even now trying to make sense of a raft of reforms to school structures, exams, curriculum and funding. Whether these changes were a good idea or not remains a hot debate (in my opinion, there’s a strong case to be made for a good few of them), but what isn’t contested is whether they were substantive.