Gove backs Johnson in ‘£350m for NHS’ storm
Michael Gove came out in support of Boris Johnson yesterday after he was accused of using misleading statistics to exaggerate the benefits of Brexit.
at the weekend, Britain’s chief statistician accused the Foreign Secretary of a ‘clear misuse’ of data after he revived Vote leave’s claim that up to £350million a week would be freed up for public spending.
The environment Secretary, who torpedoed Mr Johnson’s run for the Tory leadership after the Brexit vote, expressed support for his cabinet colleague and accused critics of trying to ‘refight’ the referendum.
and another Tory MP called on Sir David Norgrove, chairman of the UK Statistics authority, to resign for criticising Mr Johnson’s use of figures.
The £350million figure first attracted criticism during the referendum campaign, when Mr Johnson and Mr Gove travelled around the country in a bus
‘A whole variety of factors’
emblazoned with the slogan: ‘We send the eU £350million a week. let’s fund our NhS instead.’
The Foreign Secretary’s decision to revive the figure in a 4,000-word article at the weekend prompted Sir David, 69, to publish a letter to Mr Johnson saying he was ‘surprised and disappointed’, claiming it was a ‘clear misuse’ of official figures.
Mr Johnson responded with his own letter accusing the chairman of a ‘complete misrepresentation’ of his views and called on him to withdraw the criticism.
On Monday, Mr Gove backed Mr Johnson, tweeting: ‘in the debate on eU contributions it’s important people look at what Boris actually wrote in his Telegraph article, not headlines.
‘Debate should be forward-looking on how to make most of life outside eU, not refighting referendum.’
in his Daily Telegraph article on Saturday, Mr Johnson wrote: ‘Once we have settled our accounts, we will take back control of roughly £350million a week. it would be a fine thing, as many of us have pointed out, if a lot of that money went on the NhS, provided we use that cash injection to modernise and make the most of new technology.’
Tory MP Nadine Dorries also backed Mr Johnson, claiming Sir David was ‘playing politics’ by publicly criticising the Foreign Secretary. She tweeted: ‘David Norgrove, resign. You are not fit to be head of UK statistics when you deliberately play politics to deceive and distort basic facts.’
in another post, she accused Sir David of being another ‘voice of doom’, adding: ‘he will be warning us about 500,000 unemployed and an emergency budget, next.’
a Downing Street spokesman claimed Mr Johnson had ‘clarified’ his views, which were already ‘well-known’.
Theresa May notably did not rally to Mr Johnson’s defence in the row. asked whether she trusted Sir David or her Foreign Secretary to be right on the figures, she said only: ‘The reality is that year on year, the money the UK pays into the european Union changes because of a whole variety of factors.’
Sir David, who has had a string of senior roles at Marks & Spencer, is a former Treasury economist who served as Margaret Thatcher’s private secretary.
Shortly after his appointment as chairman of the UK Statistics authority in april, he pledged to limit his public slapdowns, saying: ‘letters from me should be the last resort.’
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