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Courtesy of the Telegraph.
He was famously banished to the backbenches and told to learn about loyalty by Theresa May, but now Michael Gove could prove to be the Prime Minister’s ‘silent assassin’, according to Tory sources.
Following a stellar Commons speech in which he eviscerated Jeremy Corbyn, a different kind of momentum is gathering behind the Environment Secretary as a potential ‘unity’ candidate to succeed Theresa May. According to one Conservative MP, the prominent Brexiteer has overtaken home secretary Sajid Javid as the favourite among the party’s newer intake as leadership contenders this week jostled for position following Mrs May’s controversial request to extend Article 50.
“Michael is the name on a lot of colleagues’ lips at the moment,” revealed the young MP, who was elected in 2015.
“A lot of the newer MPs have swung in behind him following the no confidence speech. It made them realise what a superior parliamentary performer he is to Saj.” The barnstorming speech - praised as the best of Gove’s 14-year parliamentary career - sympathised with Labour moderates while tearing apart Corbyn and his hard-left policies. In an address that prompted howls of laughter from the backbenches, he dubbed the Opposition’s Brexit policy “bollocks”, likened the Liberal Democrats to the Little Britain character Vicky Pollard, while championing Tory successes on unemployment and the economy “despite Brexit”.
Having helped Mrs May to win the no confidence vote in January, the 51-year-old father of two was invited back to the despatch box earlier this month to open the Government’s no deal Brexit debate with similar aplomb. His oratory has been praised in comparison to that of his former leadership rival Boris Johnson, who has been criticised by some Tories for “failing to rise to the occasion”. As one put it: “There is all this talk about Boris, but a Brextremist is not going to get through to the final two. The silent majority will make sure there’s someone sensible in place. What they want is someone willing to carry the baggage of Brexit through but who is fair minded and good on law on order - a patriot who can stand up for the working man or woman.” As a former justice secretary who took on the teaching unions as education secretary from 2010 to 2014, bringing in education reforms that have proved popular with the party faithful, Gove certainly appears to tick those boxes.
