Michael Gove - On Manoeuvres?

It is one of the worst kept secrets in right-leaning politics that Michael “Oiky” Gove, who spent some years as a Murdoch journalist, is very close to Creepy Uncle Rupe. Should something untoward befall alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, the Murdoch Mafiosi would look very kindly upon a Gove leadership bid.

The candidate ...

So when Iain Overton told earlier this week “A very reputable source has told me that Michael Gove and his wife, Sarah Vine, had dinner with Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall a few days ago. Of course, such a dinner would never be listed on Gove's official engagements. That's not how such things are done”, eyebrows were instantly raised.

As Overton also told, “Of course, remember that Gove was a guest at the Australian media mogul's wedding … And Gove refused to say if Murdoch sat in on that infamous Trump ‘interview’ … Murdoch did”. Those eyebrows may have been raised yet further when chief Downing Street polecat Dominic Cummings and his family became involved.

As the Guardian told, only the day after Overton’s revelation, “Boris Johnson will quit in six months, Dominic Cummings' father-in-law reportedly says … The claim – strenuously denied by Downing Street and, later, Johnson – was apparently delivered by Sir Humphry Wakefield to a visitor to the family’s 13th-century Grade I-listed Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, last week … The 84-year-old baronet, father of Cummings’ wife, Mary, told visitor Anna Silverman, Johnson was still struggling badly after having coronavirus and would step down in six months, according to a report in the Times”. Well, well.

... the ultimate fixer ...

Cummings has been conveniently absent after the operation that ITV political editor Robert Peston revealed to the world earlier. But it seems Dom’s inside information is developing a habit of being conveniently leaked. Moreover, Cummings owes his loyalty first and foremost to Gove, who took him on as an advisor at the DfE.

... the collateral damage ...

And it was at the DfE that Cummings ran the now infamous @ToryEducation Twitter feed, casually breaking rules for Parliamentary advisors as he dispensed his lack of wisdom and roundly abused anyone who either disagreed with him, or took the piss, there eventually being rather a lot of people in that later category. Gove and Dom were such a successful double act that Young Dave ultimately lost patience and demoted “Oiky”.

... the loyal hatchet man ...

Six months from Humphry Wakefield’s claim takes us just past the end of the year, by which point Brexit will have been delivered, deal or no deal. Bozo may be more willing to pile off by that stage, especially if there is no deal and the situation becomes, shall we say, significantly more challenging. “Oiky” could then lay claim to clearing up the mess.

... and the unfortunate lack of credibility

The upside for the Vote Leave gang, including Matthew Elliott and all the other refugees from 55 Tufton Street, is that Polecat Dom would remain close to the centre of power, and as a result they would all continue to ride the gravy train for all it was worth.

Whether the electorate would be amenable to Government by the Murdoch, of the Murdoch and for the Murdoch is another matter. Not that the Tories care about that.

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