Boris Johnson’s adviser Dominic Cummings has urged “weirdos and misfits” to apply for jobs in Downing Street ahead of a planned shake-up of the civil service.

The former director of Vote Leave published a 2,900-word advert aimed at mathematicians, data scientists, economists, software developers and PR experts.

One of the successful applicants will get to work as Mr Cummings’ personal assistant for a year, according to Thursday’s post on his blog.

“We want to hire an unusual set of people with different skills and backgrounds to work in Downing Street with the best officials,” he wrote.

It follows reports that Boris Johnson is planning “seismic” changes to the civil service following last month’s general election victory.

Mr Cummings, a long-standing critic of Whitehall, has in the past said the principle of a permanent civil service was “an idea for the history books”.

General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Show all 35 1 /35 General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Somerset A man dressed as Father Christmas enters his grotto at the Dunster Tithe Barn AP General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A dog dressed as a bee at a polling station DaveMcgrath1/PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Edenbridge Voters arrive on horses at The Rock Inn pub, being used as a polling station in Chiddingstone Hoath AFP via Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Stocksbridge A woman waits outside a cafe, set up as a polling station AFP via Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls London People queue to cast their ballots, at polling station in Clapham Kelly Molloy/AP General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls London Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his wife Laura Alvarez pose outside the polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Holloway Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Hartlepool A dog stands next to a polling station sign Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Glasgow Leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon waves as she leaves a polling station after voting Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls London Boris Johnson holds his dog Dilyn as he leaves a polling station, at the Methodist Central Hall Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Millie wearing a Christmas outfit at a polling station Sewingloon/ Lewis MacDonald via AP General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A person dressed as Sesame Street character Elmo next to police officers after arguing with a member of Jeremy Corbyn's security detail Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Yorkshire A dog next to a polling station sign on the back of a Land Rover in Low Row PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Northern Ireland DUP leader Arlene Foster arrives at a polling station in Enniskillen PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls London Nuns leave after voting at St John's parish hall AFP via Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Arundel Signs are photographed at a polling station at the Arundel Lido swimming pool facilities Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Eight dogs at a polling station in Dulwich Village PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Oxford A presiding officer and a clerk drink cups of tea next to heaters to keep warm as they sit inside their polling station at Ace Laundrette AP General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Hove A dog sits outside a polling station Grizelda Cartoons via Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Brighton Caroline Lucas leaves a polling station with her son Isaac Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Oxford A polling station set up inside a pub Getty Images General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Oxford A dog looks out of the door of a laundrette AFP via Getty Images General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls New Mills A polling station sign is displayed next to a nativity scene as a voter arrives at a polling station at the Town Hall Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Glasgow Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson and her husband Duncan Hames leave a polling station after voting Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A horse outside a polling station in Epping Forest FSCEPPINGFOREST via Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Narberth A woman leaves a polling station at Hank Marvin, a fish and chips restaurant Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Mayor of London, Saqid Khan poses with a dog Luna outside a polling station in an undisclosed location in this still image taken from a video uploaded to social media on December 12, 2019 . Saqid Khan/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. SADIQ KHAN Sadiq Khan via REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A man leaves a polling station in a railway carriage in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, as voters go to the polls in what has been billed as the most important General Election in a generation. PA Photo. Picture date: Thursday December 12, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire Danny Lawson PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A woman clears the snow at the entrance of a polling station during the general election, in Dalwhinnie, Britain, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne RUSSELL CHEYNE REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A man walks outside of a polling station next to the Thelnetham Windmill on the day of the general election in Suffolk, Britain, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/John Sibley JOHN SIBLEY REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Horses are tethered outside The Rock Inn pub, being used as a polling station in Chiddinstone Hoath, near Edenbridge, south-east England on December 12, 2019, as Britain holds a general election. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP) (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images) BEN STANSALL AFP via Getty Images General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Handout photo taken with permission from the Twitter feed of @onzlo99 of a queue outside a polling station in Balham, London as voters line up to cast their votes in the General Election. PA Photo. Issue date: Thursday December 12, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election. Photo credit should read: @onzlo99/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. @onzlo99 PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls HIGH PEAK, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 12: Two dogs sit outside a Polling station at St Matthew's Church in Hayfield on December 12, 2019 in High Peak, England. The current Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the first UK winter election for nearly a century in an attempt to gain a working majority to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit. The election results from across the country are being counted overnight and an overall result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images) Anthony Devlin Getty Images General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls An election worker adjusts a sign on a polling station in a container outside The Olympian Boxing Club during the general election in Sunderland, Britain, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/Craig Brough CRAIG BROUGH REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A man walks past a polling station in Stamford Hill during the general election in London, Britain, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls HENRY NICHOLLS REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Voters queue at the entrance of a portacabin set up as a polling station in Brighton and Hove, southeast England, as Britain holds a general election on December 12, 2019. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images) GLYN KIRK AFP via Getty Images

In his blog he claimed there were “some profound problems at the core of how the British state makes decisions”.

“We want to improve performance and make me much less important — and within a year largely redundant,” he said.

“At the moment I have to make decisions well outside... my ‘circle of competence’ and we do not have the sort of expertise supporting the PM and ministers that is needed.”

Mr Cummings warned applicants for the post of his personal assistant that they would have to sacrifice nights and weekends to make his life easier.

“Frankly it will hard having a boy/girlfriend at all,” he added. “It will be exhausting but interesting, and if you cut it you will be involved in things at the age of 21 that most people never see.

“I want people who are much brighter than me who can work in an extreme environment.”

In another section aimed at “super-talented weirdos”, he wrote: “We need some true wild cards, artists, people who never went to university and fought their way out of an appalling hell hole”.

And after asking applicants to send their CV by email, he warned “I’ll bin you within weeks if you don’t fit — don’t complain later because I made it clear now.”

Mr Cummings ended the post by admitting that his job advert was a “fast and cheap way to get ideas”.

The general secretary of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, warned that the plan would threaten the impartiality of the civil service.

Dave Penman said: “Civil servants are recruited on merit, not patronage – a critical principle if they are to provide the best impartial advice to ministers.

“It would be ironic if, in an attempt to bring in radical new thinking, Cummings was to surround himself with like-minded individuals – recruited for what they believe, not what they can do – and less able to provide the robust advice a minister may need, rather than simply the advice they want.”