LINKS between Downing Street and backbench Conservative MPs should be restored in the wake of Dominic Cummings’ departure from Number Ten.

That is the view of former Tory Brexit secretary David Davis amid the fall-out of the Prime Minister’s chief adviser’s exit from Downing Street alongside that of communications director Lee Cain.

The MP for the east Yorkshire constituency of Haltemprice and Howden told Times Radio: “The truth is, I think for a long time, the Prime Minister was very dependent on Mr Cummings.”

Referring to relations with the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, the ex-Cabinet member said: “There has been a general feeling that the, sort of power, has been hoarded in Downing Street.

“That the normal relationships with the 22 Committee… has been side-lined.”

Mr Davis said: “The whole attitude to Parliament has been pushed, has been side-lined, and similarly, it is said, and I am not in a position to know, but, it is said that Cabinet has been side-lined too.

“Now, all those things need to be put right.

“The Prime Minister needs a good chief of staff. He needs somebody who will be fiercely efficient, but not fiercely political, and that’s a difficult combination.”

Mr Davis told BBC Breakfast on Saturday that many within No 10 had, “turned on”, Mr Cummings.

He said: “It is said… people ranging from Allegra (Stratton) – the new spokesman for the Prime Minister – right through to his (Mr Johnson’s) fiancee, Carrie, turned against him.

“The relationship with the Prime Minister fell off a cliff. And once that’s gone, it’s gone.”

Mr Davis, who was allegedly described as “thick as mince” and “lazy as a toad” by Mr Cummings when in the Cabinet in 2017, also branded the adviser’s style “confrontational” but added the PM had “relied on him” and, “there are things he (Mr Cummings) was right about”.

There was no sign of Mr Cummings emerging from his north London home this morning, but his wife Mary Wakefield came outside and told reporters he “would not come out” in the rainy weather.

The BBC reported Mr Cummings’ departure had been brought forward given the “upset in the team” and that the PM wanted to “clear the air and move on”.

On what could change, Mr Davis told BBC Breakfast: “Well the first thing is there are going to be some new staff in Number 10. He’s going to need a new chief of staff who has got to be fiercely efficient but not fiercely political. He’s got to find someone who doesn’t have their own agenda.

“Secondly, lots of my colleagues in Parliament are hoping for a new relationship with Parliament. More openness, more interaction with Parliament.”

Another long-standing Conservative MP, Crispin Blunt, said he should not have supported Dominic Cummings following his controversial trip to Durham and the subsequent drive to Barnard Castle which led to claims that he broke lockdown rules.

When asked by Times Radio if he was right to back the adviser, Mr Blunt said: “With the benefit of hindsight, no. However, you’ve got to make a call about what is seen to be fair and proper in the circumstances and Boris made a call on that.”

He added: “I happened to agree with him (Cummings) because I saw his behaviour as being consistent with what we were trying to do and what he was trying to do for his family was consistent with trying to protect the wider public and doing the right thing for his family.

“That is an individual issue.

“The politics of it obviously absolutely stank and once it had been alighted upon by people it was a very bad example and it gravely undermined, obviously because of the huge attention it received, trust in the Government’s policy.”

Lord Gavin Barwell said the departure of Mr Cummings from Downing Street could allow Boris Johnson the chance to set a less confrontational tone with Tory MPs.

The former chief of staff to ex-Prime Minister Theresa told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It feels to me that there’s an opportunity here for him to get his Downing Street operation more harmonious and more effective.

“To rebuild relations with Conservative MPs, the parliamentary party.

“And, perhaps, to set a less confrontational and more unifying tone, that is maybe more in tune with his natural instincts.”

“Your job as chief of staff, I think, is to make sure the prime minister is getting advice from all the different voices that he or she needs to hear from.

“I suppose, my one-line take on the job would be that the important word in the title is staff, not chief.

“You are there not to drive forward your own agenda, but to make sure that the whole Government machine is implementing what the prime minister wants to do.”

The former chief of staff to Theresa May when she was prime minister has said the departure of Dominic Cummings from Downing Street could allow Boris Johnson the chance to set a less confrontational tone with Tory MPs.

Lord Gavin Barwell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It feels to me that there’s an opportunity here for him to get his Downing Street operation more harmonious and more effective.

“To rebuild relations with Conservative MPs, the parliamentary party.

“And, perhaps, to set a less confrontational and more unifying tone, that is maybe more in tune with his natural instincts.”