Michael Gove has given at least two interviews already this morning, but now he is on Today.
Q: You say in the Telegraph today that the EU referendum was a vote for leaving the single market and ending free movement. But you also say the Brexit outcome must command the widest possible support.
Gove says the Tories must recognise they did not win a majority. They must obtain the maximum possible consensus. So the concerns of people about leaving the EU must be part of the conversation.
Q: That sounds like softening Brexit.
No, says Gove. It means ensuring the the referendum result is honoured in the right way.
Asked about the report, Gove said he rejected the terms soft and hard Brexit. But speaking to BBC Breakfast, he added: “I talk to politicians from every party in order to make sure that we get the right approach. During the referendum campaign I worked with Labour politicians like Gisela Stuart and in this [last] parliament I’ve been on the Brexit select committee with Hilary Benn and a variety of others, so of course I talk to people from different parties, that’s what governing in the national interest is all about.”
On Monday, the former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called for a cross-party commission on Brexit. Writing in the Guardian, she said:
After the referendum last year, I called for the government to approach this in a cross-party way to get the best deal. Now it is more important than ever. There is neither strength nor stability in a narrow, bunkered one-party approach; you need to include people with different ideas to get the best deal and widest support.
So we should set up a small cross-party commission to conduct the negotiations, and have a clear and transparent process to build consensus behind the final deal. It should be accountable to parliament but avoid getting caught up in the inevitable hung parliament political rows.
Gove claimed the government was in “listening mode” after the election.
He said: “We underestimated some of the reasons behind Labour’s support. It is important after this general election that we do two things. One, that we form a government that is capable of carrying through the public’s wishes, including leaving the European Union. And at the same time we reflect on the fact that we didn’t get that majority that we wanted, and therefore we need to be properly in listening mode to appreciate what the public’s concerns are.”
On his relations with the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, whose leadership bid he scuppered last year, Gove said: “Boris and I spoke at the weekend and we had a great friendly conversation. He was kind enough to welcome me back to the cabinet with a very generous tweet. And we were chatting yesterday in the margins of cabinet.”
Harriet Harman Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images
Harriet Harman, the veteran Labour MP and former party deputy leader, has been speaking before this evening’s meeting of the parliamentary Labour party. Traditionally, under Corbyn’s leadership, these have been quite feisty, occasionally mutinous affairs. Not any more.
Harman is among many Labour MPs since the election to concede she was wrong in thinking Corbyn could not lead the party to election success, even the limited success of gaining seats while remaining out of government.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “My concern about Jeremy Corbyn was he could not take us towards government let alone into government. And he has confounded those expectations. Just as, if we’d have lost seats under his leadership, he would have had to take responsibility, we’ve gained seats under his leadership, and he can take the credit for that.”
She said the atmosphere among Labour MPs even shortly before the election was morbid: “We were expecting the Tories to lay waste to us. Instead it turned around, and we come back coherent, united. The atmosphere is verging from on one hand relief to jubilant, and the Tories are in disarray. And Jeremy Corbyn has to take the credit for that, because he was the leader and he’s gone forward.”
Gove’s shock return as environment secretary comes just under a year after May fired him as justice secretary following his ill-fated attempt to lead the Conservative party.
Gove accused Watson of pedalling conspiracy theories. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said:
Tom sees Rupert Murdoch’s hand behind everything. I think Tom believes that Rupert Murdoch picks the England cricket XI and the rugby first XV as well as decide who is on Britain’s Got Talent. This is par for the course for Tom when it comes to political mischief making.
It’s worth noting that in his GMB interview Gove was asked about the Daily Telegraph’s front page story which claimed senior cabinet ministers have been “secretly” talking with Labour about a cross-party agreement to soften Brexit. (See our Paper round up below).
PA again reports:
Mr Gove, a staunch Brexit supporter, was also asked about a Daily Telegraph report that senior Cabinet ministers were engaged in secret talks with Labour MPs to secure a soft Brexit.
Despite writing a column for the same edition of the paper, the former journalist said it was “news to me”, adding that the story may have involved a “slight amount of top spin”.
Michael Gove is doing the rounds of the media this morning after his surprise Cabinet re-entry. He’s written a column for the Daily Telegraph, is on the BBC Today programme at 8.10am and has just appeared on Good Morning Britain where he has been super effusive about his boss Theresa May, saying she has “amazing gifts and incredible talents”.
The Press Association reports:
Asked how long he would support the woman who sacked him less than a year ago, he told Good Morning Britain: “For as long as she wants to be Prime Minister.”
The election remains the focus although notably – on a day when Theresa May has owned up to the full “mess” of the Conservative election campaign – the Daily Mail decides to splash on a legal aid story. “An insult to terror victims” says the headline on the splash, which tells how a “terrorist fighting deportation has won £250,000 in legal aid”. May’s mea culpa is a single column.
The other papers are more obsessed with recording the day and what lies ahead. The Sun – previously very supportive of May – has the witty headline “Mess, Prime Minister” and says the PM was “hauled” before Tory MPs and “grovelled” as she admitted the “disaster” of the election result was all her fault. The Mirror goes all Star Wars with a picture of May as Princess Leia and the headline “May the farce be with you”.
The Times extrapolates what it thinks was the message from May to MPs, saying she told them: “Austerity is over” and seven years of cuts are poised to come to an end. The Guardian’s front has the May quote about getting everyone into this mess but also says her new approach with MPs has bought her time in office and there are signals of a new approach to Brexit.
The Telegraph has a splash that claims senior cabinet ministers have been “secretly” talking with Labour about a cross-party agreement to soften Brexit – no names, no real detail in the story, but obviously interesting if true. Lastly, the FT turns to Europe with a warning from the EU’s chief negotiator: “Stop wasting time or risk and exit without a deal”.
So much going on that you will need more than one pair of eyes to keep track of all the developments. That’s sort of where we come in.
We will be following the critical talks at Downing Street between Theresa May and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster who the Tories hope will do a deal to prop up a minority administration.
Read our Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald’s piece here about what the DUP hope to get out of an informal tie up with the Conservatives.
Hello and welcome to politics live where we will chart the highs and lows in Westminster and beyond in the wake of last week’s election. I’m Bonnie Malkin holding the fort until Andrew Sparrow takes over later on.
First up: Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet meets today for the first time since the election and the Labour leader is being urged to reappoint its members because of their loyalty during the campaign.
There have been indications that Corbyn might reach out to past critics including Yvette Cooper, Angela Eagle and Chuka Umunna, who have said they would be willing to serve. But Clive Efford, chair of the party’s Tribune Group, said: “Jeremy has got a shadow cabinet that remained loyal and allowed him to perform extremely well during the general election. He can’t sack those people. They deserve to be rewarded for what they have done.”
That is today. But I think it is worthwhile recapping the extraordinary goings on of yesterday.
Theresa May gave a “contrite and genuine” apology to backbench MPs for her election failure, telling the party’s 1922 Committee: “I got us into this mess, and I’m going to get us out of it.”
Hard Brexit is increasingly sounding like a thing of the past, with the Tories looking to drop the “no deal is better than a bad deal” mantra. Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader in Scotland, said she was pushing for an “open Brexit” with maximum economic access. May needs to cobble together a Queen’s speech – due on 19 June, but possibly delayed. Brexit and counter-terrorism policy will figure prominently, but items like new grammer schools could be scaled back.
May and the new French president, Emmanuel Macron, will announce a war on online terror today and attend the England v France friendly at the Stade de France tonight.
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