Michael Gove’s BBC interview, in which he disagrees with his Prime Minister over whether his renegotiation deal is indeed legally binding, is a sign of how confusing the referendum campaign is going to get. The Justice Secretary is perfectly polite as he dismisses the stance of his own government, but he is still the Justice Secretary dismissing the stance of his own government, and that is only made marginally less odd by the suspension of collective responsibility.
Gove said:
‘The European Court of Justice interprets the European Union treaties and until this agreement is embodied in treaty change, then the European Court of Justice is not bound by this agreement.’
He added that ‘ultimately it is a matter of European law and British law that only treaties have effect, and that because these agreements that have been reached are not yet treaty changes, the European Court of Justice could take a different view’.
Number 10 is insisting that ‘Britain’s new settlement in the EU has legal force and is an irreversible international law decision that requires the European Court of Justice to take it into account’. But taking into account is quite different to the phrase used by Gove, which is ‘bound by this agreement’.
What’s interesting about the Gove intervention is that it shows that the Justice Secretary is not prepared to issue one erudite statement on why he is backing Brexit and then to fall silent, but that he will make big interventions, including ones where he respectfully but forcefully disagrees with the Prime Minister on policy. The combination of his intellectual disagreements with Cameron, and Boris Johnson’s star appeal must be making Downing Street very nervous indeed.
REFERENDUM 2016: THE BATTLE AHEAD
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