Boris Johnson stands accused of relying on a narrow circle of advisers – but who are they?

John Rentoul on the tightly knit group who worked with the prime minister on the Vote Leave campaign – and now run No 10

The PM’s operation has been likened to a frat house (AFP/Getty)

Tim Montgomerie, the Conservative activist, caused a stir last week with an article in the New Statesman explaining why, having been half in and half out of the prime minister’s team, he had given up on Boris Johnson. The prime minister relied too much on a narrow circle, Montgomerie said, had stopped “listening to alternative voices”, and was distracted by the “turbulence in his private life”.

One of many striking lines in Montgomerie’s attack on Johnson’s No 10 operation was that it was like “Dom’s frat house, starring Caino, Roxstar, Sonic and other playground names”. Who are these people?

“Dom” is well known, and was the main object of Montgomerie’s criticism. Dominic Cummings is the prime minister’s chief adviser, although this isn’t a formal title. He became a minor celebrity when he was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in Brexit: The Uncivil War, a docudrama about the EU referendum campaign. Recently he became even better known when it was discovered that he had fled from London to Durham when the national lockdown was at its most stringent.