Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Robert Jenrick’s hopes of becoming Tory leader have been dealt a blow after ex-Cabinet minister Michael Gove called him a “Tory boy” and paid tribute to his “courageous” rival Kemi Badenoch.

Mr Gove effectively sided with the former business secretary in the Conservative leadership contest saying Mr Jenrick’s weakness was that he “looks like a typical Tory politician.”

By contrast, he said of Mrs Badenoch: “Courage is her hallmark.”

The former Cabinet minister, who is now the editor of the Conservative-backing Spectator magazine, said: “It’s difficult for me because I’m a friend of both.

“Robert’s strengths are diligence, rigour, hunger. He is someone who has focussed in on some of the big questions…and he has answers.”

Gove, who was appointed editor of the Spectator earlier this month, stressed he would not formally support either candidate (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

“One of his weaknesses is that he looks like a typical Tory politician”, he added.

When it was put to him in a BBC interview that he was implying Mr Jenrick was a “Tory boy”, Mr Gove joked: “So am I, it’s a stain I bear.”

Referring to the former immigration minister, he added: “Given the strength of feeling against Tory boys expressed at the last election, that is a challenge.”

But speaking about Mrs Badenoch, Mr Gove struck a very different tone. “Courage is Kemi’s hallmark,” he said. “One of the criticisms directed at her is that she is too willing to get involved in a scrap. I actually think it is a virtue.”

He declared he was “very fond of Kemi”, praising her for backing him when he came under fire in the 2019 Tory leadership contest.

“At a critical moment when I was running for leadership in 2019, she was conspicuously brave in my defence when she didn’t need to be”, he said.

Mr Gove stressed that neither he nor the Spectator would formally support either leadership candidate.

However, the former levelling up secretary has long been a supporter of Mrs Badenoch, who worked as a junior minister in his department.

In the 2022 leadership race, which Mrs Badenoch contested, he said she would be “Keir Starmer’s worst nightmare” owing to her “focus, intellect and no-bulls*** drive.”

In a glowing endorsement of the MP for North West Essex, he described her as “brave, principled, brilliant and kind”.

The two candidates for Tory leader are currently battling it out for the support of the party membership in a vote which closes at the end of October.

The next leader of the opposition will be announced on November 2.

A spokesperson for Mr Jenrick’s campaign said: “Michael Gove and his acolytes have been responsible for so much of the infighting and drama that has led our party to where it is.

“Rob’s going to end that drama and the excuses that followed and just deliver for our country.”

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.