After a good deal of humble-bragging, former No 10 aide cannot resist putting the boot in
Gently does it. The last time Greg Clark exchanged words with Dominic Cummings was in the summer of 2019, when Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser had phoned to abuse him for not backing the prime minister’s Brexit deal. Fair to say that call did not end well.
But both men have moved on since then – Cummings to … no one is quite sure what – and for their reunion gig at the science and technology committee, Clark, its chair, was determined to defuse any possible tensions. So for this particular session, no one would mention coronavirus and Cummings’ role in the government’s handling of the pandemic. That treat would be saved for a later date. For the next 90 minutes all questions would be confined to the new Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria), Dom’s baby that was promised an initial handout of £800m in the last budget.
