Please, not Gove

[nuttymango]

I don't massively admire May but Gove as PM, that's just so far beyond the pale it's ridiculous.
If he gets in then the country is truly fucked. I wish I'd got foreign grandparents instead of Gt. Grandparents.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

He won't win.

[PeaceOfWildThings]

That old meme of the evil elves wanting Gove back suddenly makes sense of all this racism...

[SteamyMcDreamy]

FFS! Anyone but him please

[Hockeydude]

He won't win IMO.

[Alfieisnoisy]

Dacre and Murdoch will back him...just watch.

[OurBlanche]

So.... I may have a had a moment of prescience a few days ago when Sarah Vine started her machinations.... her column stating Darling Michael slept through the referendum... startlingly good timing with a (allegedly) leaked email.... and now this!

It matters not what you thought of the referendum or BJ anymore. What is very, very clear is that The Goviot is a lying, machinating, back stabbing worm of a politician. Now the rest of you can see what we teachers were up in arms over.

I hope the Tory Tossers do vote for him. He will lose them the next GE in the blink of an eye!

[Snowflakes1122]

That is what I thought when I heard he was running for PM. Just no! Go away back under your rock grove

[Pangurban1]

Andrew Mitchell said the favourite never wins. Who is the favourite in this?

It has to be May. Fox, Gove, Leadsom are from the same awful stable. So May's opponent is Crabbe.

Of course, who appeals to a member of the Conservative party is a mystery to me, so maybe Fox, Gove and Leadsom are regarded as fabulous. Fox and Gove are a bit dodgy though, by any objective viewpoint.

[RortyCrankle]

I think Gove will win and be an excellent choice.

[PeaceOfWildThings]

Rorty, are you his wife?

[Lottapianos]

Gove standing is just as ridiculous as Jeremy Hunt standing, which he was threatening to do until this morning. Both utterly clueless and wildly unpopular in their respective departments.

[RortyCrankle]

Not the last time I looked Peace . Why is Gove standing so ridiculous?

[sorenofthejnaii]

I think Gove will win and be an excellent choice

Why? In education, he had a reputation for ignoring expert advice, ignoring professionals, having an ideology and sticking to it.

I don't think that's the sign of a good leader.

[wowfudge]

I can see the headline now, 'Conservatives pick most unpopular former education secretary since Baker as leader.' Kind of an own goal - and that's before you consider his role in the Brexit campaign.

[TheElementsSong]

In education, he had a reputation for ignoring expert advice, ignoring professionals, having an ideology and sticking to it.

Ummm soren, I think you've just answered your own question!

[PeaceOfWildThings]

You mean, apart from all the times he's admitted to be totally wrong for the job, Rorty?

2012:
'I'm constitutionally incapable of it':
standpointmag.co.uk/features-march-12-will-gove-go-all-the-way-to-no-10-iain-martin-michael-gove-conservatives-david-cameron
August 2012:
'I don't want to be Prime Minister'
www.politics.co.uk/news/2012/08/23/gove-as-pm-i-couldn-t-do-it

2 months after that... 'I'm not equipped to be PM' :

A month ago: “No I’m not. …I don’t want to do it and there are people who are far better equipped than me to do it."
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/06/michael-gove-rules-out-running-for-tory-leader-and-says-his-frie/
3 weeks ago:
"The one thing I can tell you is there are lots of talented people who could be Prime Minister after David Cameron but count me out."
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-michael-gove-rules-himself-out-of-leadership-contest-during-brexit-debate-a7064831.html

12 days ago he said he was 'absolutely not' going to stand to be the next Conservative Party leader:
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-michael-gove-rules-himself-out-of-leadership-contest-during-brexit-debate-a7064831.html
“I don’t think I have got that exceptional level of ability required for the job."

Today:
"I have always said that I do not want to be Prime Minister. That has always been my view."

huff.to/297krcU

[Fontella]

I agree!

But then I'm not a fan of May either, who appears to be the clear front runner in all this.

I can't understand why everyone is so keen to dismiss Stephen Crabb. He's standing at a mere 7% support at the moment and for me, at this time, with everything as it is, I think he's got all the credentials to be the perfect candidate. Cometh the hour, cometh the man ... as they say ... and maybe, just maybe he could be the man to take us gently through the shitstorm.

Sometimes you need a particular person to do a particular job for a particular time, and for me, out of all of them, he could be it. They don't have to be larger than life, centre stage characters, lauded, applauded, hated, derided, overly opinionated and closed minded.

The last thing the country needs right now is a tub thumping hard liner who is going to get everyone's backs up. I'm a LEAVE voter but we cannot simply ride roughshod over the views of almost half the country who didn't vote that way, and the fact that Crabb was a remainer, doesn't bother me in the slightest. He would still get my vote for exactly that reason.

It needs a conciliator, someone who at least stands a chance of bringing people together, not further alienating those who are already alienated - here in all corners of the UK, and in our negotiations with those across the channel.

Stephen Crabb is a very, very interesting politician and I really think the Tories shouldn't be so keen to dismiss him as a viable candidate. Younger yes, but not inexperienced and sometimes we need to look beyond the obvious. This guy ticks a lot of boxes if only they would see it.

(my thoughts only and no wish to get into a slanging match with anyone).

[SymphonyofShadows]

I don't think you can get more closed minded than someone who thinks that gay people can be 'cured' TBTFH

[Fontella]

I don't think you can get more closed minded than someone who thinks that gay people can be 'cured' TBTFH

I agree with you entirely - and that's his achiles heel.

However, he did address that particular issue afterwards - and I'm just wondering if, in this instance, his other 'qualities' override his failings in that area?

I just feel he ticks a lot of boxes compared to others at the moment. Unfortunately not that particular box - which I agree, is not something that can be easily overlooked.

[Pangurban1]

Does he really hold that view, Symphony?

It would really be strange to have a prime minister with those views.

[Namechangeforthebadstuff]

I'm wondering if, in this instance, his other qualities override his failings in that area?

What qualities do you feel could possible outweigh such spectacular homophobic ignorance?

[beardedladydragon]

I hate him. I hate what he has done to our education. To me he personifies why we have such a divide in this country.

[Figmentofmyimagination]

I'm sorry - I'm instantly put off by politicians who play bus driver bingo with their childhoods - it's beyond a joke in both main parties but in the Tories it is worse, because they are so desperate to shed their Etonian agenda.

And the 'grew up on a council house' rubbish is just the kind of thing our mawkish and gullible electorate - fed by the daily mail etc - will lap up, as we will soon see.

It's all crap.

There is something very Ayn Rand about Crabb. Very Atlas Shrugged.

If I got to chose, it would have to be May because you (sort of) know what you are getting, and because I do sense (but can I be sure of this!?!) that she won't crash the economy in the name of some peculiar philosophy about 'sovereignty' nobody else understands.

[Sixweekstowait]

SC also voted against equal marriage and did a house flip as part of his expenses ( yes I know lots of others did as well) . I'd love to know the full details of his childhood - well he started it. Someone will be along to tell us soon anyway

[sorenofthejnaii]

To me he personifies why we have such a divide in this country

This. We are a divided country. Why the fuck would the Conservatives elect someone who was divisive?

Probably because Labour has done the same.