Gove champions ‘mercurial’ Cummings as Tories mull over path back to power

Speaking at a More in Common fringe event yesterday, Gove name-dropped Cummings after being asked about whether the Tory Party should move to the centre after losing the 2024 General Election.

He said: “I am, as everyone knows, a fan of the work of my mercurial colleague Dominic Cummings.

“The point that Dom makes is that politicians’ ideas of the centre and the reality of where voters are are very different.

“If we think of a centrist, we think of Rory Stewart. But actually the centrist voter in this country is somebody who both wants a very tough line on crime and migration, that Rory would find difficult, and someone who wants to flood the NHS with cash in a way that if Rory were Health Secretary he would say was not conducive to the maximum amount of efficiency.”

Gove added: “I think it’s unhelpful to look at those labels. I think it’s helpful to look at those policies from first principles, guided by conservative values.”

The Conservative Party appears split on how to forge its path back to power, with some on the right prioritising Reform UK voters and others on the left focusing on Blue Wall Liberal Democrats.

However, Gove's reference to Cummings' theory appears to suggest a different centrist approach might now be required.

Cummings, who was the mastermind behind the 2016 Vote Leave campaign, is somewhat returning to the limelight as he mulls over whether to establish the “Start-Up Party” to replace the Tories.

He is also vocally critical of so-called “Establishment Tories” who continue to defend the European Convention on Human Rights, with ex-Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick emerging as the only Conservative leadership hopeful determined to quit the accord.

Cummings continued to make his political feelings clear almost immediately after leaving Downing Street, penning disparaging blog articles and social media posts which compared Boris Johnson to a "trolley".

Johnson has opened up about his fraught relationship with Gove after his university pal decided to “scupper” his 2016 leadership bid.

In his tell-all memoir "Unleashed", the former Prime Minister said: “I, of course, was sad at Michael’s behaviour.

“I particularly disapproved of the way he started slating me publicly in order to justify his own decision.

“What I resented most was the sheer stupidity of what he had done.”

Johnson is expected to go even further in "Unleashed" by explaining “how and why I learned to keep my old friend Michael Gove firmly in the wing mirror”.

Despite the fall-out of the 2016 leadership race, Johnson appointed Gove as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and later moved him across to become Levelling Up Secretary.

However, Johnson later sacked Gove as a Cabinet cabal brought the former Prime Minister’s premiership to a shattering end.

After almost 20-years representing Surrey Heath in the House of Commons, Gove decided not to seek re-election on July 4 and will instead start his first day as editor of The Spectator magazine on Friday.

Despite calling time on his political career, Gove provided the next Tory leader with some thoughts to ponder if the Conservative Party hopes to bounce back in 2029.

He told attendees at yesterday’s fringe event: “One should not draw overly simplistic conclusions.

“Conservative leaders and the party shouldn’t be put in a box and should resist being put in a box.

“And while it’s wonderful that we have a One Nation tradition and the folk in the ERG are a fount of sparkling ideas, we shouldn’t try to say that we are either defined by a faction or stitching factions together.

“We’ve got to leap over that and draw strength from all of our traditions.”