His intervention came amidst a groundswell of anger against Boris Johnson’s leadership and the handling of “partygate” amongst MPs and activists reacting to the party’s loss of almost 500 council seats across the country.
Writing for The Telegraph, Damian Green, the leader of the influential One Nation Conservatives caucus of MPs, warned that the party must “rediscover the virtues that appeal to natural Conservatives in strong Conservative areas”, including reducing the tax burden on those struggling with the cost of living.
In a separate article, Sir John Redwood, a former Tory Cabinet member, stated that British governments “are usually only swept from office when the economy goes into recession on their watch”, and urged Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, to cancel the National Insurance rise and suspend VAT on domestic fuel bills.
Meanwhile, James Frayne, the opinion research specialist who recently carried out two focus groups for The Telegraph, warned: “Only Keir Starmer’s struggles with the provincial working-class spared the Conservatives from electoral armageddon.”
Aaron Bell, a Tory backbencher from the 2019 general election intake, called for a “discussion” on Mr Johnson’s future.
Meanwhile, Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, broke ranks to express his “sincere hope” that the Chancellor will “shortly” introduce tax cuts.
Removing Boris Johnson is ‘bonkerooney’
However, Mr Gove insisted that there were no circumstances under which he thought that Mr Johnson should quit over the illicit gatherings held in Downing Street, stating: “The idea of removing the Prime Minister over this, I think, is bonkerooney.”
Asked about the election results, Mr Gove said: “There is a particular challenge for us in London and I think that challenge in London relates to… home ownership. There are other factors.
“But I think that for young people in London, there is a responsibility on the incumbent government to address some of the factors that have made it more difficult for them to own their own home. That’s one lesson that I would draw at this stage.
“The other one is that the Labour Party doesn’t seem to have made anything like the progress outside of London, that you would expect an opposition to do if it was on course for victory.”
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