HOUSES OF VARLIAMENT
Brexit tactics just like footie says Gove
TORY Michael Gove has accused the Labour Party of trying to cancel the EU referendum in the “political equivalent of VAR”.
Using the football term in the Commons, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster accused Jeremy Corbyn’s party of lying when they said they respected the 2016
Brexit poll result.
VAR is the video assistant referee who can overturn decisions in top football matches.
Blasting Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Gove pointed to his promise “to accept the result”.
He added: “Now in some sort of political equivalent of VAR he wants to annul the result.”
The comment was one in a series of football-related comparisons by Mr Gove, who likened Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Man City boss Pep Guardiola.
He said: “He was mayor of London twice, he beat Ken Livingstone twice. It’s only fair to say that Boris is the Pep Guardiola of British politics.”
The comparison to the titlewinning City boss comes despite Mr Johnson losing every vote his government has had so far, and being defeated 11-0 by the Supreme Court in his bid to prorogue parliament.
Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker mocked the similarity, saying: “If Pep Guardiola had a run of results like Boris Johnson, he’d be sacked.”
Policy expert Sam Freedman also laughed off the comparison.
He said: “The only way in which Boris Johnson and Pep Guardiola are similar is that they’ve both had an impact on the value of Sterling.”
Earlier, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox labelled fellow MPs a “disgrace” for not agreeing to a general election. He said: “This is a dead parliament but the time is coming, Mr Speaker, when even these turkeys won’t be able to prevent Christmas.”