Michael Gove brands Liz Truss plans as ‘a holiday from reality’ as he endorses Rishi Sunak

Michael Gove has backed Rishi Sunak (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Wire)

Michael Gove has branded Liz Truss’s campaign a “holiday from reality” as he announced that he would back Rishi Sunak as party leader.

The former minister revealed he thinks his frontbench career is over as he took aim at Liz Truss.

Gove says Truss’s plans to cut taxes are not the “right answer for the world we face”, particularly her scheme to reverse the national insurance rise and scrap plans to increase corporation tax.

He said in a column in the Times: “I am deeply concerned that the framing of the leadership debate by many has been a holiday from reality…“The answer to the cost of living crisis cannot be simply to reject further ‘handouts’ and cut tax. Proposed reductions to national insurance would favour the wealthy, and changes to corporation tax apply to big businesses not small entrepreneurs.

“I cannot see how safeguarding the stock options of FTSE 100 executives should ever take precedence over supporting the poorest in our society, but at a time of want and hunger it cannot be the right priority.”

He said that as prime minister Sunak will “put the strength of the state at the service of the weakest” and provide millions of people with the support they need during the cost of living crisis.

Gove says that he is making his case for Sunak from his heart because he believes his frontbench career is over, whichever candidate wins.

He added: “I do not expect to be in government again. But it was the privilege of my life to spend 11 years in the cabinet under three prime ministers. I know what the job requires. And Rishi has it.”

Mr Gove hit out at those who have recently backed Ms Truss, labelling them the “SW1 consensus” who predict she is the most likely candidate to win.

“A bandwagon is clattering down Whitehall with eager new adherents clambering aboard,” Mr Gove said.

Gove’s intervention has come as a YouGov poll for The Times showed that Labour has surged to its biggest lead in almost a decade amid mounting fears over the cost of living.

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Sir Keir Starmer’s party has the backing of 43 per cent of voters, 15 points ahead of the Tories on 28 per cent. This represents the biggest Labour lead recorded by the pollster since 2013.

Gove, a former education secretary, initially supported Kemi Badenoch for the Conservative leadership.

He ran for the party leadership 2016 after torpedoing Boris Johnson’s campaign, which he was managing, and then again in 2019. He lost both challenges.