Boris Johnson hired Dominic Cummings in a private summit in the aide’s living room where he told him to change the “disaster zone” of Whitehall, the former top aide has revealed.
Mr Cummings described the extraordinary cosy details of how he was installed at the heart of government, four months after his acrimonious walkout from a No10 civil war.
The ex-£140,000-a-year aide also admitted the government had been “swamped by the Brexit problem”, which he said the PM branded a “huge nightmare”.
Meanwhile it emerged Mr Cummings has agreed to give bombshell evidence on his part in the response to Covid last year.
A date has not yet been set for the session before a joint committee of MPs - which could probe more details of Mr Cummings’ lockdown-breaking trip to Durham and his ill-fated visit to Barnard Castle to “test his eyesight”.
Mr Cummings used today's hearing to fire a damaging shot at the Department of Health - saying it had an "an absolute total disaster" in terms of procurement last year.
Branding the department a 'smoking ruin', he told MPs: "DH had an absolute disaster in terms of buying - how it buys, procures, how it deals with science and technology.
"It's why we had to take the vaccines process out of the Department of Health".
Procuring vaccines was handled by an independent Task Force last year which reported to Boris Johnson.
The desire to radically change the civil service had previously been seen as Mr Cummings’ own project, rather than direct orders from the Prime Minister.
But in his first public appearance since walking out, Mr Cummings said he told Boris Johnson he would only come to No10 if he could change the “disaster zone” of Whitehall - and Mr Johnson replied: “Deal”.
He told the Science and Technology Committee: “Essentially what happened is the Prime Minister came to speak to me the Sunday before he became Prime Minister.
“He said ‘will I come to Downing Street to try and help sort out the huge Brexit nightmare’.
“I said ‘yes, if first of all you’re deadly serious about actually getting Brexit done and avoiding a second referendum. Secondly, double the science budget. Third, create some ARPA-like entity. Fourth, support me in trying to change how Whitehall works and the Cabinet Office work because it’s a disaster zone.’
“And he said ‘deal’.”
Asked where the Prime Minister said the word “deal”, Mr Cummings replied: “In my living room the Sunday before he became Prime Minister.”
Asked who was present at the meeting in July 2019, after Mr Johnson won the Tory leadership, he responded: “Just me and him”.
The scene in Mr Cummings’ £1.6m Islington townhouse, which includes a Tapestry Room, Reading Room and Formal Living Room, could prompt comparisons to the ‘Granita moment’ that dominated Labour politics. Gordon Brown and Tony Blair agreed Mr Blair would run for the leadership in the Granita restaurant in 1994.
Mr Cummings was giving evidence on the Advanced Research & Invention Agency (Aria) that he is seen as being the architect of, and has raised concerns of a lack of transparency.
Experts will be given £800 million of funding to identify and fund research involving "high-risk, high-reward" science and will have independence from the Government.
Mr Cummings insisted "I won't be involved. I'm not seeking to be involved", in the organisation adding: "I wouldn't want to be involved. I shouldn't be involved.
"The only way I could add an value would be if you picked the wrong people in the first place. If you pick the right people then what could I possibly contribute to it?"
Asked by Dawn Butler if he would run it if asked, he said: "I know there are some rumours around that No 10 has asked me to do it. I don't know if they are thinking about that but if it was suggested I would certainly say no."
Mr Cummings - who was given a 40% pay rise to £140,000 - said he was originally offered the higher salary but refused it.
He said: "I figured that I should be paid the same for trying to sort out the Brexit mess as I've been paid for doing Vote Leave, so I asked for a pay cut."
Boris Johnson's Press Secretary Allegra Stratton said: “Dominic Cummings was a valued member of the Prime Minister’s staff. He was the Chief of Staff - he was an enormously important player in the PM’s team and what he chooses to do is his business out of government.”
Asked if Boris Johnson said the things attributed to him in Cummings' living room, the PM's spokesman said: “I’m obviously not going to comment on private conversations between the Prime Minister and a Special Advisor. I obviously wasn’t there.”
Downing Street defended the response of the Department of Health and Social Care to the coronavirus pandemic.
The spokesman added: "Covid challenged health systems around the world. From the outset, it was always our focus to protect the NHS and save lives.
"I would point to what was achieved last year in terms of establishing one of the biggest diagnostic networks in UK history, in terms of increasing the number of tests we are able to undertake every day.
"We have procured over nine million items of PPE, we have established the NHS Test and Trace system which has contacted millions of people and asked them to isolate.
"DH (Department of Health) and the NHS were central to the rollout of the vaccination programme."
