Michel Gove never considered Boris Johnson ‘to be remotely qualified’ to be Prime Minister, says ex-Coalition colleague
David Laws said when the Justice Secretary decided to run for leader it was not ‘short-term ruthlessness‘ but a long-held view
MICHAEL Gove never considered Boris Johnson ‘to be remotely qualified’ to be Prime Minister, according to his former Coalition partner.
David Laws said when the Justice Secretary announced he was running for Tory leader it was not “short-term ruthlessness” - but was “reasserting his long-standing view of the former London mayor”.
The Liberal Democrat, who was chief secretary to the Treasury, wrote in about the pair following last week’s political assassination.
He said the Justice secretary was a “capital R radical” who truly believes in social mobility and “opening up of society so that routes to the top are not monopolised by elites”.
But on the question of backing Mr Johnson after the pair secured victory for the Brexit campaign, the ex-schools minister said he didn’t think that was really on the cards.
“I don’t believe that he ever considered Boris Johnson to be remotely qualified to reside at Number 10,” said Mr Laws.
He said rather than ‘stabbing him in the back’ when he revealed he was withdrawing his support from Boris last Thursday in order to run himself, Mr Gove “was reasserting his long-standing view of the former London mayor and not displaying some short-term ruthlessness or calculated personal ambition”.
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The cabinet office minister in the coalition government added: “I have no doubt that if Mr Osborne were standing in this election, Michael would be supporting him.
“But backing Boris instead was a bridge too far even for this rather unwilling candidate.”
Mr Laws says at a private dinner two years ago Mr Gove answered with a firm “no” to whether he wanted to be Prime Minister, adding he believed the Justice Secretary assumed George Osborne would take over when David Cameron retired.
The Lib Dem said: “Michael certainly has the intellectual capacity to be PM, but I think he has always been more interested in policies and big ideas rather than reaching the top for its own sake.
“As a consequence he hasn’t gone out of his way to build up a team of supportive MPs, which may be one reason why his campaign is now taking time to get off the ground.”
But the ex-minister said he realised Mr Gove was a “capital R radical” after seeing pictures not only of Mrs Thatcher but of Lenin and Malcolm X in his office.
He said: “Part of the change that Michael wants to deliver is an opening up of society so that routes to the top are not monopolised by elites.
“His background and temperament are very different from that of other top Tories, who have been born with silver spoons in their mouths.”
Praising him for being different from his rivals for Number 10, Mr Laws wrote: “All Tory leadership candidates now talk about opportunity and social mobility and second chances.
“Michael actually believes in all this, as he has demonstrated in government.
“He would be the very opposite of the ‘steady as she goes’ leader.
“At his best he might offer the social radicalism which our country needs if we are to avoid rising rates of poverty and further declines in social mobility.”
He also points out that he has some weaknesses too, such as a need “to become more collegiate as leader”, and that he favours “direct confrontation” over bridge-building, and his reliance on long-standing adviser Dominic Cummings.
But concluding his article, Mr Laws says while Theresa May is the “steady as she goes” candidate, Mr Gove “would be the candidate who actually believed in the most significant change which our government now has to deliver (Brexit)”.
“He is also the candidate who really does believe in the radical change necessary to break open opportunity in our society,” he added.