MUCH has been made this week of the dark art of spin doctoring with plenty written about the modus operandi employed by Dominic Cummings.

Cummings is undoubtedly a maverick, a shadowy figure who evokes plenty of suspicion and has many detractors.

When he initially came to public attention as Boris Johnson triumphantly entered Number Ten Downing Street, eyebrows were raised at his choice of attire.

Not for Cummings the traditional dark suit, crisp white shirt, tie and polished brogues. Oh no, anything but.

He favours jeans, crumpled shirts, trainers and, if it is a bit nippy, a hoodie.

However, beneath the casual attire there lurks a sharp, if somewhat off piste mind.

That has always been the way with spin doctors, regardless of their political hue.

Take Alastair Campbell as a prime example.

He was Tony Blair’s spokesman and campaign director from 1994 to 1997, helping orchestrate Blair’s rise to power and elevation to Prime Minister in the 1997 General Election.

Campbell was a brilliant political operator, sharp and incisive, who swatted away detractors with complete derision.

He was Blair’s main man behind the scenes (and often in front of the cameras). As a former political journalist he knew exactly what was required.

As the new Labour government took shape, Campbell became Downing Street press secretary for three years (1997 to 2000) and ruled with an iron fist behind the scenes, much like Cummings does now.

The value of a shrewd spin doctor cannot be underestimated.

There is no doubt that Cummings has caused ructions behind the scenes, most notably in the series of events which led to the resignation of Chancellor Sajid Javid whose advisers were allegedly not exactly Cummings’ cup of tea.

We will never know exactly what happened of course, but Cummings’ fingerprints were all over it.

He may not be in the cabinet but, to be perfectly honest, he may as well be. He clearly has Johnson’s ear when it comes to making the major decisions.

One imagines the various mandarins in Whitehall hate his guts and probably with some justification but, like Campbell in his pomp, he will not care one jot.

In actual fact Campbell and Cummings are cut from the same cloth even though they would hate to admit it.

Many years ago I worked with a young journalist who would go on to become an extremely effective spin doctor in his own right.

His name is Andy Coulson and he started out as a trainee journalist on the Southend Echo. You just knew from the get-go that he would go far in his chosen profession.

And he did because the Echo was never going to match his ambition. He moved on to work on The Sun’s showbusiness column entitled Bizarre and at the time it seemed a somewhat bizarre move. But naturally it wasn’t.

Coulson was well aware that Piers Morgan had initially made his name in exactly the same role and he went on to become editor of The News of the World.

He had a wild old time reporting on showbusiness stories but it was merely the first step on the ladder towards the top.

In 2000 he became deputy editor of the News of the World, becoming editor just three years later when he replaced Rebekah Brooks.

But in 2007 it all went pear shaped when he became embroiled in the phone hacking scandal which led to his resignation from a job he loved.

However, just six months later Coulson, a lifelong Tory, secured the role he had always been made for when he was appointed the Conservatives’ director of communications, subsequently becoming Downing Street’s director of communications when David Cameron became Prime Minister.

He lasted in the role for less than a year after becoming engulfed in the phone hacking scandal but his role in Cameron’s elevation to Tory party leader and subsequently PM was huge.

And therein lies the rub. The likes of Campbell and Coulson were just as ruthless as Cummings. They may have operated differently but the objective was exactly the same... namely to protect the boss by whatever means and attempt to bully the media into playing ball. Detractors were and are treated with complete contempt. Politicians who aspire to become Prime Minister need a spin doctor and a damn good one. It is as simple as that.