Dominic Cummings calls for voters to unite to oust 'pointless' Boris Johnson in ...

Boris Johnson's former Downing Street Svengali urged voters from across the political spectrum to unite to kick him out of office in a sensational election day attack. 

Lambasting the Prime Minister as 'pointless', Vote Leave mastermind Dominic Cummings this afternoon urged Remains, Brexiteers and those on the  left and right of politics to join forces to deliver 'regime change'.  

Mr Cummings, who was booted out in December 2020 after losing a power struggle with Mr Johnson's wife, accused the Conservatives of being 'politically, & organisationally rancid' in a Twitter tirade.

He accused them of focusing too much on 'culture war' issues like trans rights at the expense of law and order and the economy.

It came as Mr Johnson braces for a battering over Partygate today as voters go to the polls in local elections - with the outcome in key battlegrounds set to decide his fate.

The PM has cast his own ballot in Westminster as Tories anxiously wait to assess the damage from the Downing Street scandal, with thousands of councillors being elected across the country.

Using his favourite description of Mr Johnson as a 'wonky shopping trolley' on Twitter, Mr Cummings said: 'Vote Tory = more… taxes, regulation, sh*t bureaucracy, violent/sex crime, neglect of security/armed forces, A&E disasters / NHS neglect, chance of nuclear war ... while idiots babbling about trans & other sh*te get promoted all over SW1.

‘Tories and their wider support in media/'think tanks' etc are so intellectually, politically, and organisationally rancid that a change of leader may well not change these dynamics, but there is NO chance of even discussing serious change unless the [wonky shopping trolley] is replaced.

'Only point of [wonky shopping trolley] as PM was to act as spokesman for the Vote Leave agenda while we pushed everything in a different direction. Once this was 99 per cent abandoned in 2020 the entire spectacle is pointless *for all except the [wonky shopping trolley] himself* who enjoys riding his bike at Chequers etc

'Unless you're someone like Nadine [Dorries, the Culture Secretary] or the Telegraph ('the real boss') or Zelensky's social media crew, it's irrational to prop up the (clown) show any more. 'Remain/brexit/left/right/political/official, all shd unite in removing pointless fkd'.

He is not the only former high ranking Tory who advocated votign against the party today. Ex-minister Nick Boles, who quite Parliament in 2019, revealed today he had voted for Labour.  

A dire set of results could be terminal for Mr Johnson, as MPs mull whether to launch a coup bit after he was fined for breaking lockdown rules.

However, there have been wildly varying predictions about how bad it will be. Some experts have suggested the Conservatives face losing 800 councillors with a hammering from Labour and the Lib Dems in the so-called 'Blue Wall' zones.

But others point out that Keir Starmer's party performed very strongly in England in 2018, the last time most of the seats were contested.      

Analysis for the New Statesman estimated that the Tories will be stripped of around 200, and most of the pain will be in Scotland, Wales and central London.

Strikingly Labour could actually go backwards in England outside of the capital - something that would be seized on by No10 as evidence that the Red Wall is holding up.

Meanwhile, YouGov anticipates that Labour will scoop up seats but might struggle to gain councils, and the advance will probably much weaker in the North.  

The first council results will start coming out after midnight, but the full picture in England will not be clear until later in the morning. Authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - where a new assembly is being elected - are not starting to count until tomorrow. Northern Ireland might not be complete until Saturday evening.   

Mr Johnson looked in good spirits as he appeared at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster to cast his vote this morning.

The premier smiled and wished reporters a good morning, but was otherwise tight-lipped. In a selfie video posted on social media afterwards, Mr Johnson appealed for people to focus on the local Tory candidates.

'It is Conservatives who deliver,' he said. 'It is Conservatives who get the bins collected, fill in pot holes... ' 

Sir Keir cast his ballot in the local elections for Camden Council at a polling station in Kentish Town, north London.

The Labour leader and his wife were inside the community hall for about two minutes as they voted.

As they left, he smiled and said to the staff on the door: 'Thanks, have a good day.'

He then said 'Morning, how are you?' to photographers and camera operators outside.

Millions of voters are casting ballots to select more than 4,000 councillors to run local services and facilities - but turnout is expected to be low as voters make clear their distaste at politicians in general. 

Areas up for grabs include parts of the Red Wall such as Bury, as well as Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and all 32 London boroughs. Bolton, Peterborough, St Albans, Hillingdon, Wandsworth, Barnet and Worthing are among the crucial places being fought over. 

Scotland and Wales are also being fought over, while in Northern Ireland a crucial set of assembly elections are taking place. 

During a visit to Southampton Airport yesterday, Mr Johnson stressed that he was 'absolutely confident' he had the 'right agenda for the country'.

Key results include true-blue London local authorities such as Wandsworth – under Conservative control for the past 44 years – Westminster and Barnet where pollsters YouGov believe Labour could cause an upset.

Sir Keir used his election rallying call to highlight the 'constant drip-drip of sleaze and scandal' in Mr Johnson's administration.

As well as Partygate, the Tories have been hit with a string of controversies, including former Wakefield MP Imran Nasir Ahmad Khan being found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage boy and veteran MP Neil Parish quitting after admitting he watched pornography in the Commons.

Sir Keir said the Government had broken the Covid regulations they had put in place 'over and over again' and said the Tory 'failure' to tackle the cost of living crisis had been a 'disgrace', along with the Chancellor's decision to hike national insurance last month.

Writing in the Daily Mirror, Sir Keir said: 'The British public shouldn't have to put up with a Government that refuses to take seriously the very real issues facing you and your family.'

However, the Labour leader has also been struggling to fend off questions about his own alleged lockdown breach, amid claims he ordered £200 of curry for up to 30 aides at around 10pm during a visit to Durham last year.

He was pictured drinking beer at the gathering, but insists his team were working. 

Tory polling expert Lord Hayward suggested that the party's losses could be between 250 and 350.

He told MailOnline: 'One of the things that is becoming clear is that people you talk to are stating anti-Boris, anti-London, anti-Westminster things.'

He said some candidates were branding themselves 'local Conservatives'. In Hartlepool some hopefuls have added a note to their election literature asking people not to punish them for the behaviour of national politicians.

'They are a growing number of people who are openly dissenting from Boris and trying to separate themselves from Boris,' the peer said. 

Lord Hayward also said postal votes seemed to be down by 7 per cent to 10 per cent compared to 2018 - suggesting that turnout will be low. 

'I don't think this will benefit any one party but more that the electorate is saying 'a plague on all your houses',' the peer said.

'I do not expect a compensatory higher turnout on the day. More a case of a general decline in overall turnout.

'In 2018 all local authorities in England averaged 34.7 per cent... My expectation is therefore that turnout will be hard pushed to reach 30 per cent in 2022.'

The first batch of results is likely to be announced at midnight, with locations such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Essex, Greater Manchester and Bolton traditionally announced around this time. The latest is likely to be around 5pm on Saturday from Tower Hamlets.

The councils in England that will receive most attention are in London, where Wandsworth could swing to Labour after 44 years of being in the hands of the Tories.

Recently, the area has been drifting to the left, with all three of the borough's MPs now Labour, including Fleur Anderson in Putney, which was the only seat the party gained from the Tories in 2019.

The Conservatives also face challenges in Westminster, with their large majority diminishing over the years, and Barnet, where Labour's poor performance in 2018 has been associated with concerns about Jeremy Corbyn among the Jewish community.

In Tower Hamlets, while there are unlikely to be too many upsets in the council elections, the race to become mayor will be one to watch, with controversial former mayor Lutfur Rahman standing again.

He was forced to step down after an election court found him guilty of corrupt and illegal practices, but he has faced no criminal prosecution.

In other parts of the country, Hartlepool will be hotly contested. The Conservatives won the parliamentary seat from Labour at a by-election in May 2021 and will have to demonstrate that the faith voters put in them was not misplaced. On the other hand, Labour will hope to start to rebuild its Red Wall.

In Bury, residents voted last year to keep Labour in control of its council, but during the 2019 general election they voted in two Tory MPs - one of these being Christian Wakeford, who has since defected to Labour.

In the South of England, Tories will be hoping not to give any more ground to the Liberal Democrats, after losing two safe Tory seats at by-elections in less than a year. Wokingham, St Albans and Sutton are some of the key Conservative-Liberal Democrat battlegrounds.

In the last election in 2017 in Scotland, the Conservative made big gains from Labour but failed to gain overall control, leaving most councils run by coalitions. The largest cities - Glasgow and Edinburgh - will be the ones to look out for.

Parties north of the border have urged voters to 'send a message' to the Governments in Westminster and Holyrood with their votes.

The cost-of-living crisis, prompted by an increase in fuel bills, national insurance contributions and inflation, has been top of the agenda for Scotland's parties throughout the campaign.

But it is the impact of Partygate that could overshadow the chances of the Conservatives. Paired with the

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