If looks could kill! May slams Gove in civil service storm
Theresa May tore into Michael Gove yesterday as she demanded to know why someone with ‘no proven experience’ had been appointed as the Prime Minister’s new national security adviser.
In dramatic scenes in the Commons, the former Premier appeared to challenge her successor Boris Johnson, who approved the appointment. she asked Cabinet Office Minister Mr Gove to explain why outgoing civil servant sir Mark sedwill had been replaced by political appointee David Frost.
she told him it was essential that the security adviser should be able to give ‘expert independent advice’ – and then went on to glare and vigorously shake her head when Mr Gove gave his answer.
It was her most strident apparent criticism yet of Mr Johnson, who replaced her as PM after she resigned following her failure to deliver Brexit. The appointment has sparked anger and concern in security circles as, unlike previous holders of the post, Mr Frost is a political adviser rather than a career civil servant.
Labour said the choice of Mr Frost, who is currently leading the UK’s trade talks with the eU, was ‘dangerous’.
sir Mark is also stepping down as Cabinet secretary and head of the civil service amid reports of clashes with Mr Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
he has apparently been promised a shot at becoming the UK’s candidate for Nato secretary general. It is not the first time Mrs May has clashed with Mr Gove. she sacked him when she became Prime Minister in 2016 but later brought him back.
speaking during an urgent question in the
Commons, she said: ‘ I served on the National security Council for nine years – six years as home secretary and three as Prime Minister. During that time, I listened to the expert independent advice from national security advisers.
‘On saturday [Mr Gove] said: “We must be able to promote those with proven
‘She shook her head vigorously’
Why then is the new national security adviser a political appointee with no proven expertise in national security?’
Mr Gove responded: ‘We have had previous national security advisers, all of them excellent, not all of them necessarily people who were steeped in the security world, some of whom were distinguished diplomats in their own right. David Frost is a distinguished diplomat in his own right and it is entirely appropriate that the Prime Minister of the day should choose an adviser appropriate to the needs of the hour.’
Mrs May shot him a cold look and shook her head. sir Mark was appointed to the roles of Cabinet secretary and national security adviser when Mrs May was Prime Minister. Mr Frost is a former diplomat, having left the Foreign Office in 2013 to work in the private sector. he is due to take on the role at the end of august.
Last night Britain’s first national security adviser criticised the appointment.
Lord ricketts insisted that it sent a message ‘that the Prime Minister accords absolute priority not to expertise and experience, but to political loyalty among his closest advisers’.