Iain Dale reveals his top 10 most powerful figures in UK politics
Radio personality Iain Dale will next week reveal his top 100 most powerful people in UK politics, with City A.M. able to reveal today who made the top 10.
The list, which will be released in full in next week’s edition of The Mace magazine, contains Westminster’s most important “movers, shakers and rule-breakers”, according to Dale.
Unsurprisingly, Boris Johnson takes the top spot with chancellor Rishi Sunak in second position.
“It really has been a whirlwind 14 months,” Dale said.
“Challenges lie ahead, however, with civil service reform high on the government’s agenda, pressure to sign trade agreements with the European bloc as well as America, and the threat of another Scottish referendum, on top of the ongoing pandemic. It doesn’t look like the whirlwind is going away any time soon.”
Dale said Sunak was a “darling of his party’s right wing” and is vying “to be the Prime Minister’s successor in waiting”.
In third place, is the man often seen as the brains behind Johnson’s Downing Street operation – his chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
Cummings, who was the mastermind behind the Vote Leave campaign, endured intense media scrutiny in May for his trip to Barnard Castle during the country’s full lockdown.
“Such loyalty extended to the Prime Minister defending his lockdown infringement, and several ministers told journalists that they would expect less solidarity from the PM amid their own scandal,” Dale said.
“A cerebral thinker with an irascible edge, such is Cummings’ infuence over the government: they may well be right.”
Iain Dale’s 10 most powerful figures in UK politics
| 1 | Boris Johnson |
| 2 | Rishi Sunak |
| 3 | Dominic Cummings |
| 4 | Nicola Sturgeon |
| 5 | Andrew Bailey |
| 6 | Simon Case |
| 7 | Dominic Raab |
| 8 | Munira Mizra |
| 9 | Michael Gove |
| 10 | Priti Patel |
Coming in fourth place is Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey in fifth.
New Cabinet Secretary Simon Case makes sixth place, after becoming the youngest ever civil service chief last month.
“Case is a trusted fgure by the Johnson administration, having been handpicked from Kensington Palace earlier in the year, and directly encouraged by the prime minister to apply for his current position,” Dale said.
Dominic Raab takes out seventh place, in front of Downing Street policy boss Munira Mizra.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove comes in at ninth place, with home secretary Priti Patel rounding out the top 10.
Dale said “Gove has become a government operative with an unparalleled longevity of the past ten years”, while Patel “remains at the forefront of government policy”.