Boris johnson

Sunday

Douglas Murray

It’s time for our warring politicians to wake up to what really matters

Well I might as well say publicly what I’ve been saying to everyone who will listen privately for the last week. It seems to me that our country will regret the distraction and levity we have shown this past week. For those who campaigned to leave the EU, June 24th was not an opportunity to take a break but the start of the real work. Of course it remains astonishing that having lost the vote the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer chose to go into hiding and abandon the country they were in place to serve. But it is also unforgiveable that having won the campaign those who

Saturday

Tom Goodenough

The Spectator podcast: The Tory leadership contest turns nasty | 2 July 2016

To subscribe to The Spectator’s weekly podcast, for free, visit the iTunes store or click here for our RSS feed. Alternatively, you can follow us on SoundCloud. A week after Britain backed Brexit, politics shows no sign of slowing down. David Cameron has resigned, Michael Gove has pulled out of Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign before launching his own. And Boris has decided not to run in the contest. We now have a final slate of five candidates vying for the top job. In his Spectator cover piece this week, James Forsyth says the Tory party is in a ‘deeply emotional state’. But he also points out that the leadership candidates who

Friday

Kate Maltby

Forget the fighting. We’re entering a period of unparalleled opportunity for the Tories

Auf wiedersehen, Boris. He’ll be back, like a blond, bloated Voldemort inhabiting another life form – Top Gear host? Archbishop of York? Or endless BBC camping tours of Britain on a bike, the Portillo of the Portacabin? As Boris’ agent collects the offers – and his publishers are still owed a Shakespeare biography by the end of this anniversary year – he leaves behind him a Conservative Party scarred but resilient. There’ll be recriminations this week. Yet there’ll also be enduring relief, as one of Britain’s oldest institutions finds itself finally free of wrangling Etonians, chaps whose Brobdingnagian entitlement so undermined the gospel of One Nation inclusivity that both presumed

Steerpike

Sarah Vine’s media warning fails to hold true

At times this week it has seemed as though Sarah Vine will soon be running the country — that is, if she isn’t secretly already. As well as informing readers, through her Daily Mail column, that she — along with her husband Michael Gove — has been ‘charged with implementing the instructions of 17 million people’ following the Leave vote, Vine is reported to have played a pivotal role in the Justice Secretary’s decision to turn his back on Boris Johnson and run for leader. In fact, the first sign that all was not well between the Johnson and Gove camps came when Vine seemingly accidentally sent an email on the topic

Isabel Hardman

Tory party braced for deep divisions during leadership contest

The Tory party is waking up this morning reeling from one of its most dramatic days since, well, last week, when the Prime Minister announced he was resigning. MPs from across the party are amazed at what they largely see as not just an act of treachery from Michael Gove but also a breach of how politicians generally behave towards their friends and their party, which is generally with loyalty. Many of them wonder how on earth the Justice Secretary can really reunite the Conservative party at the end of a bitter referendum battle when he has just injected a great deal of bitterness into the leadership contest. Meanwhile, those

Theo Hobson

Perhaps, after all, sexual morality does still matter in politics

This is not something that we are keen to discuss, for we are pretty sure that we have become far less puritanical, and that this is a good thing. But try this experiment. Imagine a slightly different version of Boris: funny, human, brilliant, a bit chaotic-seeming, and so on – but without any hint of sexual scandal. There would still have been question marks over such a Boris becoming PM – especially after his opportunistic Brexit decision. But they would have faded as the prospect of a charismatic, nation-enthusing leader emerged. Some would have called this Boris fundamentally untrustworthy, citing episodes of bullying and aggressive ambition, but such qualms would have

Thursday

Steerpike

Tory MP: there is a very deep pit reserved in hell for Michael Gove

Who ever does become the new Conservative leader is going to face a difficult challenge uniting the party, let alone leading the Brexit negotiations. Following Michael Gove’s decision to run for Tory leader without bothering to tell Boris Johnson, a number of BoJo allies are distinctly unimpressed with the Justice Secretary. Perhaps none more so than Jake Berry. The Conservative MP for Rossendale and Darwen has taken to Twitter to declare that there is a special place in hell for people like Gove. Mr S suspects Gove can safely assume Berry will not be getting behind his last minute leadership bid. Update: Berry isn’t backing down… even if he is

Anthony Horowitz

I always defended Michael Gove. Then I met him | 30 June 2016

This piece first appeared in The Spectator on 15 March 2014.  A few weeks ago, I was a guest at a huge tea party for children’s authors, publishers and commentators at the South Bank, but the atmosphere, over the cupcakes and finger sandwiches, was decidedly frosty. There were three keynote speakers and their speeches all targeted a man so vile and destructive that the audience visibly recoiled every time his name was mentioned. He was, of course, Michael Gove — and I wasn’t sure I should tell anyone that I had always rather admired him and, moreover, was about to interview him for this magazine. It might be better to keep

James Forsyth

Why did Michael Gove suddenly withdraw his support from Boris Johnson?

So, what happened? As late as yesterday afternoon, Michael Gove was trying to persuade fellow Cabinet Ministers to back Boris Johnson. This morning, he announced that not only that he was running but that ‘Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead’. Hours later, Boris – reeling from this blow – announced that he would not be running. Well, one aspect of all this appears to be Gove’s frustration with the way Boris operated. The referendum campaign had led Gove to revise his opinion of Boris, to see him as someone who could be a good Prime Minister. But Gove backers say that, when removed

Freddy Gray

This must be what happens when you put journalists in charge

Are we learning, rather painfully, what happens when you let journalists take over? Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are political hacks, by instinct and experience, so perhaps it is not surprising that Brexit is starting to look and feel like a post-modern sequel to the novel Scoop.  Deadlines, panic, laziness, brilliance, incompetence, disaster, highs, lows, sheer bloody madness — this is the new politics. Triumph snatched from the jaws of disaster, and then days later the reverse. It makes for great copy, and is (go on, you can admit it) very funny. But is it any way to run a country? What sort of professional other than a journalist would pull off a great political coup, put himself on the

Steerpike

Is Michael Gove the Brutus to Boris Johnson’s Caesar?

Boris Johnson managed to surprise commentariats and colleagues alike today when he used his supposed leadership launch to announce that he was actually bowing out of the race. Johnson’s allies feel that he was forced into the decision after his fellow Brexiteer Michael Gove announced just an hour earlier that he would stand in his own right. With Johnson believing that Gove was helping rally support for his leadership bid, this has been viewed by many as the ultimate betrayal. Although the former Mayor of London is yet to directly comment on his one-time friend’s betrayal, was there in fact an oblique reference to it in his speech? There was one line in particular that spiked Mr S’s attention: ‘A

The Spectator

Boris Johnson: I will not be the next Tory leader

Boris Johnson has ruled himself out of the Tory leadership race. Here is his full speech: Last week the people of this country voted to take a new path and a new direction for Britain in a decision that I passionately support. And it is vital now to see this moment for what it is. This is not a time to quail, it is not a crisis, nor should we see it as an excuse for wobbling or self doubt. But as a moment for hope and ambition for Britain. A time not to fight against the tide of history but to take that tide at the flood and sail

Isabel Hardman

Boris Johnson: Next Tory leader ‘cannot be me’

‘My friends, you have waited for the punchline of this speech’ said Boris Johnson after 11 minutes of what sounded very much like a leadership speech. ‘That having consulted colleagues and in view of the circumstances in parliament I have concluded that person cannot be me.’ Theresa May has been slightly ahead of Boris in the surveys of Tory members and voters so far. Now she is the front runner. But it is worth remembering that Gove always receives a rapt reception at party conference and many Conservatives went into mourning when he was moved from the education brief. Gove has also been the key driver in government of the

Isabel Hardman

Chaos and fury in Team Boris as support bleeds to Gove

Boris Johnson is about to go ahead with his leadership campaign launch without the man who has pulled so much of it together. MPs entering the event are baffled by this morning’s shock announcement by Michael Gove that he will run for leader himself: he was the man who invited them. Others, such as Dominic Raab, have already announced they have switched to the Gove campaign. Funnily enough, behind the scenes there is utter fury in the Boris camp. One prominent supporter points out that the Justice Secretary repeatedly insisted that he didn’t want the top job. ‘How can anyone believe a word Gove says on anything ever again?’ they

Steerpike

Boris Johnson’s water cannon splurge comes back to haunt him

Today Boris Johnson has found himself attacked on all sides with his leadership bid now seen to be over before it even began. With his fellow Brexiteer Michael Gove running against him for leader, Theresa May has used her own leadership launch to pour cold water on BoJo’s ability to lead the country. The most cutting remark came when she was asked about her ability to lead negotiations with countries like Germany. At which point she brought up Boris’s track record on… buying water cannons: ‘I seem to remember the last time he did a deal with the Germans, he came back with three nearly new water cannons.’ Mr S suspects that

Tom Goodenough

Theresa May launches her Conservative leadership bid

Theresa May has launched her Conservative leadership bid this morning. Her scheduled announcement came just moments after Michael Gove announced that he was also entering the race in a surprise move, having broken ranks with Boris Johnson’s own campaign. In her speech, which you can read in full here, the Home Secretary said: ‘My pitch is very simple. I’m Theresa May and I think I’m the best person to be Prime Minister of this country’ May spoke at length of her reasoning for wanting the top job during her 16-minute speech. On Brexit, she said the country had emerged from a ‘bruising and divisive campaign’. Admitting she called for Britain to ‘Remain’,

Michael Gove

Michael Gove: why I’m standing for the Tory leadership

The British people voted for change last Thursday. They sent us a clear instruction that they want Britain to leave the European Union and end the supremacy of EU law. They told us to restore democratic control of immigration policy and to spend their money on national priorities such as health, education and science instead of giving it to Brussels. They rejected politics as usual and government as usual. They want and need a new approach to running this country. There are huge challenges ahead for this country but also huge opportunities. We can make this country stronger and fairer. We have a unique chance to heal divisions, give everyone

Tom Goodenough

The Spectator podcast: The Tory leadership contest turns nasty

To subscribe to The Spectator’s weekly podcast, for free, visit the iTunes store or click here for our RSS feed. Alternatively, you can follow us on SoundCloud. A week after Britain backed Brexit, politics shows no sign of slowing down. David Cameron has resigned, Michael Gove has pulled out of Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign before launching his own. And Boris has decided not to run in the contest. We now have a final slate of five candidates vying for the top job. In his Spectator cover piece this week, James Forsyth says the Tory party is in a ‘deeply emotional state’. But he also points out that the leadership candidates who

James Forsyth

So will it be Boris?

The Tory party is in a deeply emotional state. Remain-supporting MPs cry tears of rage when they discuss the referendum. Bitter emails and text messages have been exchanged. Leave-supporting MPs have been accused of unleashing dark forces that they cannot control, of putting immigrants in Britain at risk. Yet the leadership candidates who have so far emerged seem strangely united in their vision for post-Brexit Britain. All want to heal the divide between rich and poor that the referendum has exposed. It is tempting to concentrate only on the division in the party, the fear that David Cameron’s resignation has injected even more poison into the Tory system than either

Wednesday

Steerpike

Sarah Vine sends Tory leadership email to a member of the public

Oh dear. This morning Sarah Vine surprised Daily Mail readers after she declared in her column that both she and her husband Michael Gove had been ‘charged with implementing the instructions of 17 million people’ following the Leave vote. While Vine’s central role in the Brexit negotiations prompted laughter in some quarters, it now transpires that she has been taking on a very hands-on role indeed. Sky News have been passed an email from Vine setting out the Justice Secretary’s leadership plotting after she accidentally cc’ed in a member of public. The email — sent yesterday — raises some awkward questions for the pair. While a Gove/Boris joint ticket is on the cards,