Gove states his case to be British leader

No charisma, ‘Leave’ backer admits

Michael Gove leaves his home Friday in London. He characterized himself as a reluctant candidate for prime minister, saying he possesses no charisma.
Michael Gove leaves his home Friday in London. He characterized himself as a reluctant candidate for prime minister, saying he possesses no charisma.

LONDON -- Michael Gove made his case Friday to become the next British prime minister, arguing that the new leader should be someone who had backed an exit from the European Union, while vowing to spend on the National Health Service less than a third of what his "Leave" campaign had promised.

Gove spoke a day after he shocked Britain by announcing his candidacy in the Conservative Party competition, having promised to serve as campaign manager for Boris Johnson, the former London mayor initially seen as the front-runner for the post.

Johnson, one of the leaders of the "Leave" campaign with Gove, withdrew his candidacy, making the home secretary, Theresa May, 59, the odds-on favorite. But May had quietly backed staying in the European Union, and Gove, the justice secretary, argued Friday that he best represented the mood of the party and the country.

Gove, 48, laid out his program in a long and slightly wandering speech in London, acknowledging that he possesses no glamour or charisma and that he "did almost everything not to be a candidate for the leadership of this party."

He was "so very reluctant because I know my limitations," he said. "Whatever charisma is, I don't have it; whatever glamour may be, I don't think anyone could ever associate me with it."

But Gove, having undermined Johnson, had to justify his decision. He listened to his heart, he said, and decided that running was "the right thing to do."

Some Conservatives are furious at the betrayal.

Kenneth Clarke, a former justice secretary, said Friday that Gove "would all do us a favor if he were to stand down now." Clarke said a leader needed to have "the trust, as far as possible, of your colleagues."

Still, Gove portrayed himself as a politician of conviction who broke with Prime Minister David Cameron, a friend, over a long-standing belief that Britain could not be truly sovereign inside the European Union, and with Johnson because he realized this week that "for all Boris' formidable talents, he was not the right person for the task."

Like May, who delivered her candidacy speech Thursday, Gove said that he would not begin the formal process of leaving the European Union until next year and would not hold an early election.

He also said that controlling immigration to Britain was a goal, which would almost surely prevent Britain from retaining access to the duty-free single market of the bloc.

He promised to "end free movement, introduce an Australian-style points-based system for immigration, and bring numbers down."

Money saved from leaving the European Union would be spent principally on the National Health Service, he said, pledging to spend 100 million pounds more a week, or about $133 million, by 2020.

Before the referendum, the "Leave" campaign bus had been emblazoned with a promise to spend 350 million pounds a week on the health service -- a pledge that it said was equivalent to the amount Britain sent to the European Union and one that it refused to abandon even when it was shown that the figure was wrong.

Gove argued that he was "the candidate for change," pointing to his experience as justice secretary and especially as education secretary, even though he became so unpopular in that post that Cameron moved him out of the job. That move was the source of great resentment from Gove and his wife, Sarah Vine, a journalist.

Gove spoke of being an adopted child lucky to find loving parents in Aberdeen, Scotland, who instilled in him "a belief in human potential." And Gove, through intelligence and hard work, rose to graduate from Oxford and join the nation's political elite.

There were only five Conservative members of Parliament in the audience, and Gove will need more support than that to emerge as a plausible prime minister and a real competitor to May. She is considered a safe continuity candidate who is to the right of Cameron but slightly to the left of Gove.

May has been generally praised for her six years as home secretary, in particular for standing up to the police unions and for pushing through anti-terrorism legislation.

Gove had little to say Friday about the budget or the economy, which has taken a big hit from the vote for the British exit, as the Treasury warned.

During the campaign, Gove dismissed all such warnings as "Project Fear" and said that "people in this country have had enough of experts."

George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer and a friend of Gove's, said in a speech of his own in Manchester on Friday that he would abandon his pledge to balance the budget by 2020, the end of this Parliament, because of the effect that the referendum would have on growth and the uncertainty surrounding it.

"We will continue to be tough on the deficit but we must be realistic about achieving a surplus by the end of this decade," Osborne said.

Had Cameron and the "Remain" campaign won the referendum, Osborne would have been seen as a potential successor for prime minister. Those hopes have evaporated, and there is speculation that he may support Gove in the race.

There are three other candidates: Stephen Crabb, a young lawmaker who is the work and pensions secretary; Liam Fox, a former defense secretary; and Andrea Leadsom, the energy minister, a "Leave" campaigner who is fast picking up support.

Conservatives will start winnowing the five candidates down to two in rolling votes, and then the 150,000 or so party members will choose between the final two. A decision is likely to be announced on Sept. 9.

Information for this article was contributed by Jill Lawless of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/02/2016

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