After Michael Gove turned on his one-time ally Boris Johnson and decided to run for leader himself, there was disbelief and anger among the former Mayor of London’s supporters. While Jake Berry declared that there was a special place in hell for Gove, his fellow Tory MP Ben Wallace has used a comment piece in today’s Telegraph to claim the Justice Secretary has an ’emotional need to gossip, particularly when drink is taken’.
In the article, Wallace explains why he believes Gove just isn’t up to being Tory leader — let alone Prime Minister. To do this, he reveals the chaos that ensued after Gove gave Lynton Crosby just five minutes notice that he would be running for leader:
‘I walked round the corner to see Lynton Crosby, ashen white, taking a call from someone who turned out to be Michael Gove. “He has done the dirty on us, mate,” were the words I remember most afterwards. Boris was at his home rehearsing for his speech unaware that the press knew before him.’
Wallace goes on to say that Tory MPs cannot trust Gove to lead, thanks to his ’emotional need to gossip, particularly when drink is taken’. He says that once Gove joined Boris’s leadership campaign ‘things started to go wrong’ thanks to a number of leaks to the media. This is apparently not an uncommon experience when it comes to working with the Justice Secretary:
‘For me this wasn’t new. When I was a government whip and Michael was the chief whip, the office leaked like a sieve. Important policy and personnel details made their way to the papers. Michael seems to have an emotional need to gossip, particularly when drink is taken, as it all too often seemed to be.’
Although Wallace paints an unfavourable picture of Gove, it ought not to come as too much a surprise. After all, the MP for Wyre and Preston threatened the Justice Secretary’s manhood just last week.
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