wolf hall author dame hilary mantel compares dominic cummings to thomas cromwell as she says the pm's former aide created a picture of himself as an outsider

Dame Hilary Mantel has compared Dominic Cummings and Thomas Cromwell as the Wolf Hall author said the former had 'created a picture of himself as an outsider'. 

Dame Hilary said that image was 'intrinsic' to Mr Cummings' 'self-created function'. 

But she said in contrast Cromwell had 'conquered the hierarchy' and 'understood where real power lay as opposed to status'. 

Dame Hilary made the comments after she risked fury by declaring that she is 'ashamed' of Britain and plans to take up Irish citizenship to 'become a European again'.

The Booker Prize winner used an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica to describe Boris Johnson as unfit for public office, to criticise the institution of monarchy and to ridicule the UK as an 'artificial and precarious construct'.

But her broadside – and assertion that she might be happier living in a republic – could leave her vulnerable to allegations of hypocrisy for agreeing to become a Dame of the British Empire in 2014.

Dame Hilary Mantel has compared Dominic Cummings and Thomas Cromwell as the Wolf Hall author said the former had 'created a picture of himself as an outsider'

Dame Hilary said that image was 'intrinsic' to Mr Cummings' 'self-created function'

Dame Hilary made the comparison between Mr Cummings and Cromwell during an appearance on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show. 

The novelist, 69, who has published a trilogy of books about the Tudor statesman and minister to Henry VIII, said: 'Dominic Cummings created a picture of himself as an outsider which was intrinsic to his self-created function.

'What Cromwell did was he conquered the hierarchy. He understood where real power lay as opposed to status and he worked his own way through the system, in a way that shouldn't have been possible in that very hierarchical world.'  

Actor Ben Miles, who plays Cromwell in the stage versions of Dame Hilary's books, told the programme there were 'parallels' between the two men.

He said: 'There is an element of a man from outside, from perhaps a lower status background and origin, scaling the heights, as it were, and becoming indispensable.'

Dame Hilary is the first woman to win the Booker Prize twice – in 2009 for Wolf Hall, and for Bring Up The Bodies in 2012 – the first two instalments of her trilogy.

The works of historical fiction are set in the Tudor period and chronicle the rise to power of Cromwell while The Mirror And The Light tracks his fall and the last four years of his life from 1536 until his execution.

Dame Hilary also suggested Cromwell would not have gone on holiday during an 'international crisis', in an apparent criticism of Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab who was in Crete as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated. 

She said: 'He wouldn't have gone on holiday during an international crisis. Can you imagine Cardinal Wolsey going on holiday?'