Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings has a “nasty streak” and a “somewhat brutal way”, a senior Tory MP has warned. 

Huw Merriman also said he was “torn” about Boris Johnson’s closest aide, saying Cummings could also be a “breath of fresh air” for Whitehall. 

In an interview with The House magazine, the chairman of the Commons’ transport committee said Cummings, who led the Vote Leave campaign for Brexit, was able to “challenge the status quo”, but that way he operated was “divisive”. 

It comes as Johnson aims to capitalise on the 80-seat majority he won in December’s general election with sweeping changes in Whitehall and public institutions. 

Cummings, who is central to the Number 10 operation, has faced criticism for hiring Andrew Sabisky, who was later forced to resign after it emerged he had previously suggested black people had lower IQs than white people, and that women’s sports were more comparable to the Paralympics than the Olympics.

He has also sparked controversy over his approach to handling the media, with some journalists excluded from important briefings with civil servants. 

Merriman said: “I feel quite torn about my views on Dominic Cummings, because on the one hand, I like people that have original thought and ideas. They challenge the status quo.” 

He said Whitehall could be “more responsive” to the public’s needs, and added: “And so actually, I think he’s a breath of fresh air as far as that’s concerned.”

Johnson’s administration has launched a consultation on decriminalising, and therefore essentially making voluntary, the BBC licence fee. Cummings and Johnson are thought to be split on the idea of scrapping the levy altogether. 

Merriman, who is chairman of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on the BBC, said he was worried about the way No.10 had briefed journalists about the public service broadcaster. 

He picked out reports which suggested it would be “forcibly slimmed down”, transformed into a subscription service and “given a ‘whack’ in the process”. 

He said: “Where I get concerned is the somewhat brutal way behind [his methods]. So the BBC is a good example of that. It’s fair enough to say we need to have a conversation about whether the licence fee is going to still be relevant in 2027. There’s nothing wrong with that. I agree with that conversation.

“But this whole thing about ‘whacking’, about ‘it’s got hundreds of radio stations, and we’re going to close them down’. It doesn’t, it has 63 and so, therefore, the facts aren’t correct. 

“And there seems to be a sort of nasty streak behind some of these briefings. And if our whole mantra is to try and unite the country, after the difficulties we’ve had over the last couple of years, and this government has a mandate to do that, then I’m not sure why we need to be quite so divisive in the tone and language that we’re using. I just don’t think it’s going to end well.”

Former minister Damian Green has also sounded the alarm about Tory colleagues “BBC bashing” since the election.

Merriman went on to say he supported the licence fee. 

“It is absolutely right that the future funding model of the BBC is debated before 2027 when the charter is up for renewal,” he said. 

“What’s not helpful, and unedifying, is waging some ideological trench warfare on the BBC. 

“My own preference would be to continue with the licence fee. By having most homes pay towards the BBC, we all have a stake in this much-loved British institution, and we keep it at a price which, at roughly the price of the Sun, is affordable for most.

“Others will take a different view, but I dislike the nasty manner in which this debate is being conducted. It needs to stop.”

BBC bosses fear decriminalising the licence fee could cost the corporation £200m a year. 

But launching a consultation earlier this month, former culture secretary Nicky Morgan – who was replaced by Oliver Dowden in the reshuffle – said it was time to think about keeping the fee “relevant” in a “changing media landscape”.