Michael Gove tears into Jeremy Corbyn and defends May’s leadership
Michael Gove tears into Jeremy Corbyn and defends Mrs May’s ‘inspirational leadership’ before Labour leader’s no-confidence vote backfires
- Environment Secretary said Jeremy Corbyn was a threat to national security
- His speech is likely to be seen as an audition for a future Tory leadership contest
- The Government won the Commons confidence vote by 325 votes to 306
Labour’s attempt to topple Theresa May backfired last night following a barnstorming intervention by Michael Gove.
Jeremy Corbyn’s no-confidence motion was decisively defeated, despite it coming just a day after the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal was emphatically voted down by the Commons.
The Government won the confidence vote by 325 to 306, a majority of 19, thanks to the support of Northern Ireland unionists. Without the support of the DUP, she would have lost the vote by one – and would have faced the prospect of a general election.
Mrs May’s victory followed a powerful defence of her ‘inspirational leadership’ by Michael Gove.
Winding up the seven-hour debate on the motion, the Brexiteer Environment Secretary launched into a brutal condemnation of the Labour leader, who he said would put national security under threat.
Michael Gove (pictured) launched into a brutal condemnation of the Labour leader, who he said would put national security under threat
When it came to security, Mr Gove mocked Mr Corbyn by saying he was ‘present but not involved’ – a reference to his excuse for visiting the graves of terror leaders linked to the Munich massacre.
‘While we are standing up for national security, what about Mr Corbyn?’ Mr Gove said. ‘He wants to leave Nato, he wants to get rid of our nuclear deterrent.
‘No allies, no deterrent, no army, no way can this country ever allow that man to be our Prime Minister.’
The Environment Secretary added: ‘If he won’t stand up against Putin or fascists in Syria, how can we expect him to stand up for us in European negotiations, for Gibraltar against Spain, or to ensure we get a good deal with the Commission? Of course he won’t.’
Ironically, his impassioned speech in defence of Mrs May is likely to be seen by some as an audition for the role of Tory leader, should it come up in the future.
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Yesterday’s confidence vote was the first in the Commons since 1993 when John Major defeated the motion.
Labour had promised a string of confidence votes in the coming weeks in a bid to wear the Government down. And despite the defeat last night, the party did not rule tabling another motion on Monday after Mrs May lays out the way ahead for EU negotiations.
However, the Scottish and Welsh nationalists, whose support Mr Corbyn would need to defeat the Tories, warned him to come out in support of a second referendum rather than pushing for endless confidence votes with little or no chance of success.
Opening the debate earlier in the day, Mr Corbyn said: ‘If a government cannot get its legislation through Parliament it must go to the country for a new mandate, and that must apply when it is on the key issue of the day.’
He said the fixed-term parliaments act was ‘never intended to prop up a zombie government’, adding: ‘This Frankenstein deal is now officially dead and the Prime Minister is trying to blame everybody else.’
Mr Gove mocked Mr Corbyn (pictured) by saying he was ‘present but not involved’ – a reference to his excuse for visiting the graves of terror leaders linked to the Munich massacre
Mrs May rose to cheers and the stamping of feet from her backbenchers and told Mr Corbyn a general election would be ‘the worst thing we could do’.
She said: ‘It would deepen division when we need unity, it would bring chaos when we need certainty, and it would bring delay when we need to move forward. At this crucial moment in our nation’s history, a general election is simply not in the national interest.’
Attacking Mr Corbyn, she said: ‘What he has done to his party is a national tragedy, what he would do to the country would be a national calamity.’ Anna Soubry, the pro-Remain Tory MP who voted against the PM’s deal on Monday, turned her fire on the Labour leader, labelling him the ‘most hopeless Leader of the Opposition we’ve ever had’.
Ian Blackford, the Scottish Nationalists’ Westminster leader, said Labour had been shamed into tabling its confidence vote – and called on him to back a second referendum. ‘I make this appeal to our friends and colleagues in the Labour Party – we have to work together to hold this Government to account, and if we are to do that, we have to recognise the harm that Brexit will do,’ he said.
‘If we want to protect the interests of our citizens, there has to be a people’s vote. We do not have time to delay.’ During the debate, Mr Corbyn faced the humiliation of being criticised by one of his former MPs for being ‘unfit for high office’.
John Woodcock, who now sits as an independent, said that ‘with a heavy heart’ he could not support the no-confidence motion.
He abstained along with fellow former Labour independent Ivan Lewis and former Labour whip Fiona Onasanya.
Winding up, Labour deputy leader Tom Watson told the PM that her EU negotiations had ‘failed’. He said: ‘It’s not through lack of effort or determination. In fact the country feels genuinely sorry for the Prime Minister. I feel sorry for the Prime Minister.’ Mr Gove replied: ‘We have several things in common … we both recognise that Mr Corbyn is about the worst possible person to lead the Labour Party.’
The DUP’s Westminster group leader Nigel Dodds said: ‘Last night’s verdict was emphatic and it does require lessons to be learned if the Prime Minister is to secure meaningful changes to the Withdrawal Agreement, and I trust the lessons are being learned and will be learned.’
Last night a Labour spokesman said: ‘The Government may be able to survive the no confidence vote today, but it is simply not able to govern.’
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