“I started Brexit” claims Gove. Oh no he didn’t. Not even close.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org examines Mr Gove’s claims

We raise concerns concerning the third-placed candidate

In last night’s Conservative leadership debate on the BBC, Michael Gove once again repeated the claim he made in the first debate, stating:

“I was the first person to begin Brexit.
Because I started it, I will finish it.”

This claim is simply untrue on many levels and we were surprised that none of the other candidates – nor the BBC presenter – challenged him over it. Below we present five points on which Mr Gove may wish to reflect before he repeats his claim.

1. Didn’t a certain Mr Farage have something to do with “starting Brexit”?

The fight to leave the EU has been going on for decades. Indeed there are many individuals and organisations which played a prominent part in a gradual process leading up to the EU Referendum of 2016.

Perhaps most prominent in the minds of ordinary people as one of the true spearheads of the long-term campaign is a man who has spent over 20 years campaigning for Leave as an MEP: Mr Nigel Farage. It may have come as some surprise to Mr Farage last night when he heard that in fact it was Mr Gove who had ‘started Brexit’.

2. There were two major Leave campaigns

It is worth pointing out that there were two major Leave campaigns: Vote Leave and Leave.EU.

Regardless of the apportionment of credit for the Leave victory between Vote Leave and Leave.EU – and indeed between all the other pro-Leave organisations active at that time – Mr Gove only had any involvement in one of the two major campaigns: Vote Leave.

3. What role did Mr Gove in fact play?

Vote Leave won the official designation from the pro-Remain Electoral Commission on 13 April 2016. It had been founded six months earlier by Dominic Cummings and Matthew Elliott, on 08 Oct 2015. At that stage it had the support of MPs Kate Hoey and Douglas Carswell and its Board was subsequently made up of donors including John Mills and MPs including Gisela Stuart and Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

By early February Lord Lawson was the Chairman and Michael Gove did not join Vote Leave until 20 February 2016.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org has checked the records at Companies House

At no time was Michael Gove ever a Director of Vote Leave Ltd

Brexit Facts4EU.Org has checked the records at Companies House, and at no time was Michael Gove ever a Director of Vote Leave Ltd. He became ‘Co-convenor’ with Gisela Stuart of the Campaign Committee in March, just three months before the EU Referendum.

Exclusive insight from a Director of Vote Leave

Brexit Facts4EU.Org spoke exclusively to Daniel Hodson, Chairman of City for Britain
and a Director of Vote Leave, who told us the following:-

"The main campaign up to January 2013 was The People's Pledge (I was Chairman of its Operating Committee in the end). It was non-partisan and non Remain or Leave (supported by both), just 'Let's Have a Referendum'. Following Cameron's Bloomberg speech Matthew [Elliott] and a group of us founded Business for Britain whose culmination was a massive tome called 'Change or Go', and which set out the red lines in Cameron's negotiations with the EU.

"When it became clear that Cameron was going nowhere we formed Vote Leave, as you correctly say. No cabinet ministers broke ranks initially and the first was actually Chris Grayling, a point worth noting, not Gove at all.

"Grayling was important not only because he broke the ice but also because he insisted on Cummings' role being reduced, as more or less set out in the Cumberbatch film; we clipped Dom's wings far more than he would ever admit. The real heroes are those who have opposed the EU from the start, my No.1 being John Mills, Chairman of Labour Leave, who actually led the 'No' campaign in 1975."

4. Et tu, Michael?

Following the resignation of David Cameron after his defeat in the EU Referendum, the most significant event was the choice of a new Prime Minister to lead the country out of the EU as promised.

In what must be one of the most treacherous acts since Brutus pointedly spiked the career of Julius Caesar, Michael Gove withdrew his support for Boris Johnson on the day Boris was due to launch his campaign to become Prime Minister. Not only that, but Mr Gove told the world that Mr Johnson was unfit and announced his own candidacy instead.

This directly led to the withdrawal of Boris from the contest and subsequently to the crowning of the disastrous Remainer Theresa May as Prime Minister. The rest, as they say, is history.

5. Finally, just how sound is Mr Gove on Brexit?

Aside from the fact that Michael Gove has argued continuously for Mrs May’s appalling surrender treaty known as the Withdrawal Agreement, there are other major concerns over his reliability when it comes to a true Brexit.

Tomorrow we reveal how Michael Gove has advocated alternative, soft-Remain scenarios as recently as last year.

Observations

For Michael Gove to make such an extraordinary assertion – that he “started Brexit” - in a public forum is simply astonishing.

It is also rather disturbing. How can he possibly imagine that he won’t be called out on this? If this man becomes Prime Minister (highly unlikely we agree) this presages a continuation of the unacceptable political landscape in which Theresa May was allowed to keep saying that her Withdrawal Agreement was Brexit, when it patently wasn’t.

This is now the second time that Mr Gove has been allowed to make this false claim on national television. Unless challenged, these things start to enter the public consciousness. We just couldn't let this carry on and we hope other media outlets will now debunk Mr Gove's strange recollection of what happened three years ago.

There is no doubt that Mr Gove is a highly intelligent man. Reliable on Brexit and on having a grip on reality, he is not.

Read our follow-up article here.

[ Sources: BBC | Companies House | Vote Leave | Daniel Hodson Esq, Chairman of City for Britain, and Director of Vote Leave Ltd | various other news sources ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 19 Jun 2019

This article is dedicated to the memory of Mr Gordon Lerigo, a staunch Brexiteer, patriot, and supporter of our work, R.I.P.

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