Gove’s threats to quit Leave team over plan to sack ally May jets to Spain for Gibraltar crisis talks
MICHAEL Gove twice threatened to quit the Brexit campaign over plans to sack the controversial mastermind behind it, The Mail on Sunday has learned.
The threats came after a series of blazing rows between Tory MPs and Vote Leave director Dominic Cummings, a close personal and political ally of Mr Gove.
Mr Cummings, renowned for his explosive temper and mastery of the political black arts, was accused of acting like a ‘dictator’ by leading Tories.
But when they demanded he was fired, Mr Gove twice threatened to withdraw his support for Brexit. A well-placed source said: ‘Michael made it clear – if Dominic went he would go too.’
At the end of January, three weeks before Mr Gove declared he would back the ‘Out’ campaign, he foiled an attempt by Eurosceptic Tory MP Bernard Jenkin to remove Mr Cummings.
Mr Jenkin, a Vote Leave board member, made the move after pressure from MPs, who objected to Mr Cummings’s aggressive style.
One Minister involved in the machinations said: ‘Gove rang up the moneymen behind Vote Leave and made it clear that if they wanted to secure his backing then Cummings had to stay. They were left with the impression that if Cummings went, Gove could come out for Remain.’
The second flashpoint came in May, when Mr Cummings authorised a vitriolic attack on ITV after it announced Ukip’s Nigel Farage would represent Brexit in its referendum debate, rather than Mr Gove.
The attack singled out Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, saying he was biased against them. The broadcaster was accused of ‘lying’ and warned it faced ‘consequences for its future’ after a post-Brexit change of regime in Downing Street.
Many MPs associated with Vote Leave were furious, saying Mr Cummings had made the organisation look ‘mad’. But again, Mr Gove protected him.
One Cabinet Minister said: ‘Gove told us Cummings was a genius, and we couldn’t win without his campaigning strategies. Implicit throughout was that the two came
THERESA May is set to hold crisis talks with Spain over the post-Brexit fate of Gibraltar this week – after Madrid’s foreign minister vowed to ‘plant his flag’ on the Rock.
She will meet acting premier Mariano Rajoy in the Spanish capital on Thursday as part of a whistlestop European tour.
No10 says Mrs May is keen to meet as many leaders as possible before her first European Council in two weeks. It comes as Gibraltar’s chief minister Fabian Picardo rejected overtures from Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, who suggested he could continue to enjoy unfettered access to EU markets if he conceded joint sovereignty to Spain. But Mr Picardo said: ‘No way, Jose. You’ll never get your hands on our Rock.’
Mr Garcia-Margallo replied: ‘I won’t put my hands there – I will plant my flag.’