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Boris Johnson's chief adviser Dominic Cummings has left his role with immediate effect, the BBC reports.
It was previously thought he would be gone by the end of the year, but it seems this deadline has been brought forward significantly - as photographs of him leaving 10 Downing Street with a big box would suggest.
Dominic Cummings has now decided to leave Number 10 today for good - (subtle hint walking out with a box - Lee Cain also now out from today
- Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 13, 2020
There was a conversation btw the 2 of them and the PM at lunchtime today where it was decided after upset in the team and difficult week, best to go immediately
- Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 13, 2020
This was all a slow burning fuse but exploded fast when it finally happened! End of a very torrid era
- Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 13, 2020
Cummings went from being a largely unknown and mysterious figure to making headlines left right and centre earlier this year over a certain trip to Barnard Castle.
You may recall there was uproar up and down the country over his apparent breach of lockdown rules, with many MPs and members of the public calling for his resignation.
However, Boris Johnson stood by him and insisted that he did not breach lockdown rules, claiming Cummings 'followed the instincts of every father and every parent and I do not mark him down for that'.
Cummings moved his family up to a property in County Durham near his parents after his wife developed coronavirus symptoms, the justification being that his folks would be able to look after the kids if he and his wife became too ill.
However, he was also spotted at Barnard Castle while he was up there - a trip he said he made to test his eyesight before driving back down south.
Offering an explanation during a sun-dappled press conference in May, he said: "My wife was very worried, particularly because my eyesight seemed to have been affected by the disease. She didn't want to risk a nearly 300 mile drive with our child, given how ill I had been.
"We agreed to go for a short drive to see if I could drive safely. I drove for roughly half an hour and we ended up on the outskirts of Barnard Castle town.
"We didn't visit the castle, we didn't walk around the town. We parked by a river. My wife and I discussed the situation, we agreed I could drive safely and we turned around and went home."
LADbible has contacted Number 10 for a comment.