Dominic Cummings calls for 'weirdos' to apply for jobs in Downing Street
2 January 2020, 20:53
In a job advert, Boris Johnson's key adviser has called for "some true wild cards" and "weirdos and misfits with odd skills" to apply to the Government.
Mr Cummings posted an apparent job advert on Thursday saying Number 10 wants to hire an "unusual set of people with different skills and backgrounds" to work as special advisers and officials.
The senior adviser said he is looking for “people who fought their way out of an appalling hell hole” to transform the civil service, instead of “public school bluffers” with "no real-world experience".
Mr Cummings warned that there are "some profound problems at the core of how the British state makes decisions" and that he currently makes decisions "well outside" his "circle of competence".
His blog post, exceeding 2,900 words, came amid reports that the Prime Minister is planning "seismic changes" to the civil service.
The post also came after Rachel Wolf, who helped draw up the blueprint of Tory election pledges, said civil servants could be made to take regular exams to prove they are up to their Whitehall jobs.
Ms Wolf hit out at civil servants, branding them "woefully unprepared" for Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings' planned series of reforms.
In his blog post, Dominic Cummings gave a gmail account for applicants including "weirdos and misfits with odd skills" to send their CV and cover letter to.
He said No 10 was keen to recruit "unusual" data scientists, software developers and economists to improve the performance of government.
"The point of this government is to do things differently and better and this always looks messy," he wrote.
"We do not care about trying to 'control the narrative' and all that New Labour junk," Mr Cummings added.
The former Vote Leave director even said he hopes to be made "largely redundant" within a year by the recruitment drive.
He also stressed that the need for change comes with Brexit requiring large policy and decision-making structure changes and a Government with an 80-strong majority having "little need to worry about short-term unpopularity".
