BREXIT: THE FALLOUT
TORY master-strategist Sir Lynton Crosby told Boris Johnson to quit just an hour after Michael Gove launched a devastating assault on his character yesterday, it has emerged.
The Australian, who captained David Cameron’s surprise election victory last year, told the former London mayor that Mr Gove’s brutal intervention had wrecked his dream of becoming prime minister.
Sir Lynton, who was running Mr Johnson’s campaign, said an immediate withdrawal from the leadership race was his only hope of escaping with some of his dignity intact.
The move came after Mr Gove telephoned Sir Lynton to say he was withdrawing his support shortly before making his bombshell announcement at 9am.
Sources close to the Justice Secretary claim he tried to call Mr Johnson directly but ‘couldn’t get through’ – a claim disputed by friends of Mr Johnson.
It was then left to a furious Sir Lynton to break the news to the man he had guided to two victories in London. Mr Gove’s statement, in which he questioned Mr Johnson’s commitment to Brexit and suggested he was not fit to be prime minister, led to an immediate haemorrhaging of support for the frontrunner who had led the campaign to get Britain out of the EU.
Skills minister Nick Boles immediately announced he was deserting Mr Johnson for Mr Gove, as did Dominic Raab.
The justice minister had hailed Mr Johnson as a ‘Heineken politician’ in yesterday’s Sun newspaper, adding: ‘I struggle with the idea that an “Anyone But Boris” candidate would be well placed to build unity.’
With Mr Johnson scheduled to launch his campaign just two hours later, he had to make an immediate call on whether to fight on. The decision to quit was taken with Sir Lynton, a small group of aides and his wife Marina. Even MPs backing his campaign were not informed.
As journalists gathered for his launch event at a Westminster hotel, rumours swirled that he would not turn up.
But when Mr Johnson eventually arrived, he was greeted with wild cheers from supporters and there was no clue that he was about to quit.
As he began his speech it appeared that he would press ahead with his campaign, telling supporters it was ‘not a time to quail’. Britain had a chance ‘to think globally again, to lift our eyes to the horizon, to bring our uniquely British voice and values, powerful, humane, progressive, to the great global forums without being elbowed aside by a supranational body,’ he said.
The agenda for the next PM would be to ‘seize this chance and make this our moment to stand tall in the world.’
But, with just ten minutes to go until the noon deadline for nominations for the Conservative leadership, Tory grandee Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, was sat in the Commons growing increasingly anxious that he had heard nothing from the Johnson camp.
Half a mile away, Mr Johnson was about to unleash his own bombshell.
As his speech concluded, he told supporters and journalists: ‘I must tell you, my friends, you who have waited faithfully for the punchline of this speech, that having consulted colleagues, and in view of the circumstances in Parliament, I have concluded that person cannot be me.’
Long-time supporters, such as Tory MPs Nadine Dorries and Nadhim Zahawi, stared in open-mouthed shock as Mr Johnson revealed he was pulling out, while journalists sprinted from the room to report the news.
James Cleverly, another MP supporter, fought back tears and said: ‘I’m gutted’.
In a bitter attack on Mr Gove, Mr Cleverly said: ‘Some people seem to think [US political drama] House of Cards is a training manual.’
Even Mr Johnson’s minister brother Jo did not appear to know he was pulling out. Asked what had gone wrong, he replied tersely: ‘Ask Michael Gove.’
The decision also sparked a furious backlash from Mr Johnson’s critics, who accused
‘He has ripped the party apart’
him of taking Britain out of Europe ‘for nothing’. Former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine accused him of ‘contemptible’ irresponsibility.
‘There will be a profound sense of dismay and, frankly, contempt. He has ripped the party apart,’ he said.
‘He has created the greatest constitutional crisis in modern times. He has knocked billions off the value of the nation’s savings.
‘He is like a general who led his army to the
sound of guns and at the sight of the battlefield abandoned the field to the claims of his adjutant who said he wasn’t up to the job in the first place.
‘I have never seen such a contemptible and irresponsible situation. He must live with the shame of what he has done.’
On Twitter, the actor Ewan McGregor sent a foul-mouthed rant to Mr Johnson, saying: ‘You spineless **** . You lead this ludicrous campaign to leave EU. Win, and now f*** off to let someone else clear up your mess.’ Mr Johnson has dreamed of being prime minister since childhood, when he would tell adults he wanted to be ‘world king’ when he grew up.
The MP had been favourite to win the leadership after securing the Brexit vote and had 81 nominations from Tory MPs – far ahead of his rivals.
Yesterday’s events appeared to dash his hopes of ever becoming premier. But last night allies insisted that he would not depart Westminster and could yet serve in the Cabinet. A friend of Mr Johnson said he had ‘no intention of quitting front line politics’.
The friend added: ‘The referendum showed that the country is divided and he will now make it his mission to try to bring the country together again.’