Chief Whip named Gove as Minister in false gay affair claim
... and did he REALLY call Theresa May a ‘charisma free b **** ’ ?
LEADING Brexit campaigner Michael Gove is today revealed as the man falsely smeared by Theresa May’s Cabinet ‘enforcer’ as having had a gay affair.
Tory Chief Whip Gavin Williamson, who was an aide to former Prime Minister David Cameron, is also accused of having described Mrs May as a ‘charisma free b **** .’
The Mail on Sunday has been informed that Williamson said in Downing Street that Gove had had a homosexual relationship with personal and political ally Dominic Cummings, chief strategist of the Leave campaign in the EU referendum.
Both Gove and Cummings are happily married with children and this newspaper understands the allegation to be totally baseless.
Asked to respond to the claim that he said Gove and Cummings had had a gay affair, Mr Williamson said last night: ‘I do not comment on malicious rumours.’
He ‘categorically denied’ calling Mrs May a ‘charisma free b **** ’, adding: ‘She is doing a fantastic job and I am proud to be a member of her Cabinet.’
Williamson’s alleged insult against Mrs May is said to have occurred after her speech to the Tory conference last year, when her comments on immigration angered some of Cameron’s allies.
The Mail on Sunday first reported Williamson’s alleged gay smear last week, without identifying Gove and Cummings. It led to several Tory MPs approaching this newspaper to accuse Williamson of bullying. One said: ‘He is a thug with a nasty streak.’
Others defended him. One said: ‘A Chief Whip has to be tough, those who don’t like it should grow up.’
In an unexpected move in his column in The Times on Friday, Gove publicly stated that he was the unnamed Minister in our report – albeit with tongue in cheek. He wrote: ‘Last week, The Mail on Sunday reported the rumour that a former Minister, a prominent Leave campaigner, had shocked his wife by falling in love with a married man.
‘The paper said the allegation was untrue. They were wrong. The rumour is true. The ex-Minister is me.’ Mischievous Gove, who did not name Williamson as having made the remark, went on to say the man he was ‘in love with’ was former Labour MP Ed Balls – for his exploits on Strictly Come Dancing.
Williamson’s alleged smear of Gove and Cummings was made when he was Cameron’s parliamentary private secretary – his Commons ‘eyes and ears’ – at the height of the EU referendum campaign this year. The controversial but successful tactics deployed by Gove and Vote Leave chief strategist Cummings caused fury in No10.
Cameron was livid with close friend Gove’s ‘betrayal’ over Brexit.
And there is a long-standing mutual loathing between Cummings, Gove’s adviser as Education Secretary, and Cameron.
Cummings has made no secret of his contempt for Cameron, who initially banned him from working for Gove when he was Education Secretary, where they formed a powerful partnership. Cameron called Cummings a ‘career psychopath’.
Cummings’ volatile personality led to frequent rows in the Vote Leave camp, but even critics concede his ‘mad genius’ was a vital factor in its success. Despite his low profile, Williamson is one of the most powerful members of Mrs May’s Cabinet, showing her the same fierce loyalty he displayed to Cameron. When Cameron resigned as Prime Minister after the referendum, Williamson switched sides to back Mrs May. When she became Prime Minister, he was rewarded with the plum job of Chief Whip and he is the only Cabinet Minister to attend her daily morning meeting at No10 with her inner circle.
As Chief Whip, Williamson is responsible for enforcing discipline among Ministers and Tory MPs and guarding against potential scandals.
The influential Conservative Home website compared him to Francis Urquhart, played by actor Ian Richardson, the fictitious villainous Chief Whip in the 1980s British TV series House Of Cards. But his rapid promotion – together with claims of wild remarks – has earned him backbench Tory enemies.
One said: ‘There is great resentment that a man who only became an MP in 2010 and has never spoken from the Commons dispatch box as a Minister, now lords it over everyone in such an arrogant fashion.
‘He shoots his mouth off and is very rude. When he eventually returns to the backbenches, he will be a very lonely man.’
Since being condemned for sabotaging his Vote Leave ally Boris Johnson’s Tory leadership bid, Edinburgh-born Gove has tried to rehabilitate his political reputation.
It led to a bruising encounter on Sky TV last week with newsman Adam Boulton, who said he had made a ‘prize idiot’ of himself, goading the MP: ‘What was your biggest mistake, supporting Boris, knifing Boris or thinking you were fit to be Prime Minister?’ Gove admitted he ‘made a mistake’ in abandoning Johnson. But Gove received a major boost when he was elected by fellow Tory MPs to serve on the high-powered Commons Brexit committee, beating outspoken Brexit critic, ex-Conservative Minister Anna Soubry.
A senior Tory MP said: ‘It is time to give Michael a second chance. For all his flaws, he remains hugely popular, is likeable and very talented.
‘Taking his punishment like a man in TV interviews shows courage and humility.’
Mr Gove declined to comment. Mr Cummings could not be contacted.
A Downing Street spokesman said of the alleged Theresa May remark: ‘Gavin has made clear he didn’t say this.
‘There is no more to add.’