Johnson aide ‘Sonic’ leaves No 10 in latest blow to Vote Leave influence over government

A close aide of Boris Johnson is reported to have left Downing Street in the latest blow to Vote Leave influence in the heart of government. 

Reports by The Times and Sky News suggested that Oliver Lewis had quit as head of the No 10 Union unit following tensions with new arrivals in Mr Johnson’s team.

Mr Lewis’s departure follows the removal in November of senior adviser Dominic Cummings and director of communications Lee Cain, who he worked alongside during the 2016 EU referendum campaign.

It marks the latest step in a changing of the guard which has seen stalwarts of the Vote Leave campaign removed from commanding positions inside Mr Johnson’s administration as the UK completed its transition out of the EU.

Reports suggested that Mr Lewis – nicknamed “Sonic” by Brexit allies – felt his position had become “untenable” in what one source described as a “non-stop psychodrama” in No 10.

He was said to have emphatically denied allegations of leaking to the media amid tensions over the appointment of David Frost to replace Michael Gove as the minister responsible for relations with the EU.

Lord Frost’s elevation to the cabinet came amid reports that he had opposed the appointment of Gove ally Simone Finn as No 10 deputy chief of staff, and the installation of a former adviser to the Cabinet Office minister, Henry Newman, as her assistant.

Both Finn and Newman are understood to be close to Mr Johnson’s fiancée Carrie Symonds, who was seen as the driving force behind the ejection of Cummings and Cain.

Lewis was a key figure alongside Lord Frost in negotiating the Christmas Eve Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, which secured tariff and quota-free trade following the UK’s departure from the single market and customs union, but saddled British companies with rafts of onerous new bureaucracy.

He had previously worked with Mr Johnson on Vote Leave and his leadership campaign, entering No 10 with the new prime minister in 2019.

Mr Lewis was appointed head of the unit tasked with bolstering the unity of the four nations of the UK only weeks ago, after former adviser Luke Graham left.

At the time, it was said that Lewis would be leading a “beefed-up Union unit” to counter the SNP’s push for Scottish independence.

But his appointment to the Union role was questioned by some who pointed to his lack of experience of Scottish issues.

SNP Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald said: “Boris Johnson’s taxpayer-funded anti-independence campaign is completely falling apart – as Oliver Lewis becomes the second head of the Tory Union Unit to quit in a fortnight.

“As support for independence grows, the Tories are losing advisers like rats on a sinking ship. People in Scotland have a right to determine their own future in a post-pandemic referendum. Boris Johnson knows he cannot deny democracy any more than Donald Trump.”