Boris Johnson came up with the phrase “levelling up” because he was annoyed at being branded a puppet of Dominic Cummings, the PM’s former advisor has claimed.
The “vacuous” slogan, Mr Cummings wrote on his Substack email newsletter, tested poorly in focus groups, and neither No10 staff nor the public understood what it meant.
He claimed Mr Johnson came up with the phrase “partly out of irritation with being told to focus on the core message… and partly because he was irritated with people calling him a puppet who repeats my slogans.”
Mr Cummings is widely reported to have been behind the “Get Brexit Done” message of the 2019 campaign, as he was the “Take Back Control” slogan ahead of the EU referendum.
“We told him — nobody understands this, stop saying it, focus on what we know works,” Mr Cummings added - adding that Mr Johnson was “sufficiently determined to prove (to himself) he wasn’t a puppet that he kept saying it.
“The campaign quietly marginalised it without arguing with him as it was just another distraction.”
Two years on, Mr Johnson yesterday offered the “skeleton” of plans for “levelling up”, proposing greater regional devolution in a speech billed as a major bid to define his vision for the UK.
The Prime Minister suggested county leaders could possibly get fresh powers and reiterated plans for investment on infrastructure, education and regeneration, but offered few new details for his great ambition.
He promised that boosting the North will not be to the detriment of the South, as he tried to keep traditional Tory voters onside while courting former Labour supporters in the North and Midlands.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer dismissed the speech as "all soundbites and no substance".
