" was actively engaged, with Cummings in discrediting the Prime Minister."
That's unlikely - they owed their whole promotion & position to him. Its a classic faction fight between two groups for the ear of a weak and indecisive man - check out Barchester Towers - or remember the question asked in 1912 of a very senior Tsarist Minister "Who is the most important man in Russia?" "Simple - the last man the Tsar talked to"