MICHAEL Gove is seeking power through a number of “pliant proxies” in a Machiavellian battle with Tory enforcer Dougie ‘Dr-No’ Smith, Politicalite can exclusively reveal.
The claims surround several allegations that Nadine Dorries asserted in her book, “The Plot” that Kemi Badenoch was being trained to be Michael Gove’s candidate for the next Tory leader. The late Robin Cook, when asked if he saw himself as a future Labour Prime Minister, replied, “They don’t tend to elect wizened ginger dwarves.” It is believed that Gove also thinks himself unelectable, and could only become Prime Minister during a government in power, rather than leading one to victory at General Election. This would explain why Gove would seek power through pliant proxies, rather than seek the top spot in person.
Those close to Gove have also suggested that it is improbable for him to put himself forward because fixer-in-chief Dougie Smith would be unlikely to allow it. In her book, Dorries states that it is Dougie who controls who is allowed to stand as Conservative candidates, and it is he, rather than the party itself, who chooses the leader. Although he has no official position within the government and is not on its payroll as a Special Advisor, he has a position with Conservative Campaign Headquarters, where he is listed as an Advisor to the Leader’s Office with reportedly a huge salary.
Gove’s original plan was reportedly to allow Rishi to lose the next election dramatically as the sacrificial lamb. Following such a massive defeat, Rishi would have to resign, whereupon Kemi would come forward as the Gove candidate for leader, and Dougie Smith would ensure that the Parliamentary party voted her in. It is thought unlikely that the party members in the constituencies, who almost thwarted Gove by voting in Liz Truss before he was able to reverse that and have them disenfranchised, would do other than to allow Kemi to be confirmed in office.
The spanner in these darkroom works is, as is so often the case in politics, personal relationships. The Times and the Telegraph both carried a report over the weekend that Gove and Badenoch fell out when Gove had a liaison with a woman who had separated from her husband, a woman was a friend of Badenoch’s. Kemi ceased to be on speaking terms with Gove for most of the year, although they are now reported to have resumed a ‘professional,’ albeit distant working relationship.
Those who know how the Westminster media work, know that it is not by a chance coincidence that two major papers cover the same story on the same day. Someone on the inside has leaked the souring of the relationship between Badenoch and Gove, and has done so deliberately for a reason.
Some insiders suggest that the briefing has come from friends of Kemi, anxious to distance her from the talk of her as ‘Gove’s candidate for leader,’ and from the now toxic association with Dougie Smith. Others have suggested the opposite, that the briefing comes from the Gove camp to counter the story that Kemi is his puppet, the leader in waiting he can control. The story of a rift between them makes her seem independent, and therefore boosts her chances of success.
Either way, it does seem to onlookers as the reason that nothing is being done, and why the King’s Speech was so lame. The people at the top are too busy manoeuvering for power against each other to do anything that matters to the country.
