Cabinet meltdown as Gove humbled and May aide fired
DAVID CAMERON’S Government was in crisis last night after Michael Gove was forced to make a grovelling apology to the Prime Minister for undermining Theresa May – and her spin doctor had to quit for attacking Mr Gove.
The punishments were meted out after a furious Mr Cameron was compelled to intervene to stop a vicious power struggle between Home Secretary Mrs May and Education Secretary Mr Gove.
Mr Gove agreed to say sorry after private remarks he made criticising her and Home Office counter-terrorism boss Charles Farr at a lunch with Times newspaper executives over the Home Office’s handling of extremism in schools appeared in the media.
Mr Gove apologised to both Mr Cameron and Mr Farr.
Mrs May’s spin doctor, Fiona Cunningham, was forced to quit for leaking a damaging private letter to Mr Gove written by Mrs May.
To add to the turmoil surrounding the dispute, Ms Cunningham is in a relationship with former spy Mr Farr.
The Gove-versus-May feud is part of a wider battle over who will succeed Mr Cameron as Conservative Party leader. Mrs May has emerged as favourite, with Mr Gove said to be determined to stop her on behalf of his ally, Chancellor George Osborne.
The row was sparked by a war of words between Mrs May and Mr Gove over the alleged ‘Trojan Horse’ Islamist extremist plot to infiltrate schools in Birmingham.
At one stage, rumours swept senior Conservative circles yesterday that Mr Gove, one of Mr Cameron’s closest personal and political allies, could be forced to quit as Education Secretary.
And some Conservative MPs said that Mrs May was prepared to resign if Ms Cunningham was fired.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, who interrogated both Cabinet ministers over the spectacular fall out, told the Prime Minister that he must take firm action against the Home Secretary and Education Secretary.
Mr Cameron was furious that the argument between Mrs May and Mr Gove overshadowed last week’s Queen’s Speech.
Even more embarrassingly, he was forced to interrupt his attendance at the G7 summit in Brussels to respond to the matter, vowing: ‘I will get to the bottom of who has said what and what has happened and sort it all out.’