I suppose I should be grateful for a less that normal caustic riposte.
Happy Friday to you.
the DUP are toast
“Call me Dave” puts the boot into Boris and The Gover. (from the Torygraph)
David Cameron has accused Boris Johnson and Michael Gove of leaving “the truth at home” over Brexit as he said they behaved “appallingly” during the EU referendum campaign.
In an excoriating attack by an ex-prime minister on one of his successors, Mr Cameron criticised his former friends and colleagues over the claims they made about £350m a week payments to Brussels on their campaign bus.
Casting doubt on Mr Johnson’s promise of getting Britain out of the EU on Oct 31 with or without a deal, Mr Cameron also suggests a second referendum might now be necessary, saying: “I don’t think you can rule it out because we’re stuck.”
In his long-awaited memoir, which is published next week, and in an interview with The Times newspaper, Mr Cameron says his failure to keep Britain in the EU, which led to his resignation, left him “hugely depressed”, opens up about his drug-taking past and about the highs and lows of his coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
He accuses Mr Johnson of “sharp practices” in proroguing Parliament and savages his decision to expel rebel Tories, as well as calling Mr Gove “mendacious” and even refers to the Cabinet minister as a “w****r”.
The former Tory leader also savages Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, saying of her blue-on-blue attacks during the referendum campaign: “I thought there were places Conservatives wouldn’t go against each other. And they did.”
His feud with Mr Johnson, which boiled over during the 2016 referendum campaign, is still simmering, as he criticises the recent decision to prorogue Parliament and rebukes him for sacking Tory rebels.
Mr Cameron’s Downing Street diary, For The Record, will be published next week, just days ahead of what is likely to be the most divisive Conservative Party conference in decades.
As he braced himself for the criticism he knows will be coming his way in Mr Cameron’s book, the Prime Minister insisted on Friday that “absolutely nothing” he says in his book “will diminish the affection and respect in which I hold him”, Mr Johnson said.
In an attempt to pour oil on troubled waters, Mr Johnson added: “I think he has a very distinguished record and a legacy to be proud of…not least for what he did in turning this country round after Labour left it bankrupt.”
Mr Cameron, however, was in no mood for compromise in an interview conducted to publicise the book. In a departure from the convention that former prime ministers do not criticise their successors, he says Mr Johnson lied during the referendum campaign and refuses to say he trusts him as premier.
He says the Vote Leave campaign misled voters over the claim that Britain sent £350 million per week to the EU which could be spent on the NHS instead, and over the issue of whether Turkey could be stopped from joining the EU.
He said: “Over the issue of whether or not we had a veto over Turkey [joining the EU] and over the issue of the £350 million on the bus, I think they left the truth at home.
“I’m afraid there is a real problem in politics and there is no real answer to this. If you’re having a row about your issue, you’re winning even if the numbers are wrong.”
Mr Cameron accuses Mr Johnson and Mr Gove of behaving “appallingly” during the referendum campaign, and claims Mr Johnson only campaigned for Leave for his own career prospects.
“Boris had never argued for leaving the EU, right?” he says. “Michael was a very strong Eurosceptic but someone whom I’d known as this liberal, compassionate, rational Conservative ended up making arguments about Turkey [joining the EU] and being swamped and what have you.
“They were trashing the government of which they were a part, effectively. It was ridiculous.”
He discloses that he tried to persuade Mr Johnson to back the Remain campaign by offering him a “top five” Cabinet job, and hinted at defence secretary. On the day Mr Cameron resigned Mr Johnson sent him a text message apologising for not being “in touch”.
Mr Cameron says he could not think what to say in reply. Of Mr Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament and expel rebel MPs, Mr Cameron says: “Taking the whip from hard-working Conservative MPs and sharp practices using prorogation of Parliament have rebounded.
“I didn’t support either of those things. Neither do I think a no deal Brexit is a good idea.” Asked twice if he trusts the Prime Minister, Mr Cameron is reluctant or unable to do so, saying: “I want him to succeed…we’ve had issues. Even before Brexit there were sometimes tensions and disagreements but, on the whole, we’ve got on well.
“He’s got a very clear strategy and plan. It’s not the approach I would have taken, but I want him to succeed.”
He also said Mr Johnson’s estimate of a no deal Brexit being a million to one against was “a little bit off” and reveals that Mr Johnson would turn up late for the Cabinet’s Cobra emergency briefings during the 2011 London riots, when he was mayor.
But it is Mr Gove, whom he counted as a close personal friend, for whom he reserves the greatest insults. He describes him as “mendacious” in his book, and says that when Mr Gove resisted being moved from education secretary to chief whip in 2014 he texted him to say: “You are either a team player or a w****r.”
He says Mr Gove promised him he would not play a leading part in the Leave campaign, only to go back on his word. Since then, he says: “We’ve spoken. Not a huge amount. I’ve sort of had a conversation with him. I’ve spoken to the Prime Minister a little bit, mainly through texts, but Michael was a very good friend, so that has been more difficult.”
Mr Cameron also unleashes his ire on Ms Patel, saying: “I remember her attack that wealthy people didn’t understand the problems of immigration.
“It felt like she was put on point to do some attacking of the government and its record. I suppose some people would say all is fair in love and war and political campaigns [but] I thought there were places Conservatives wouldn’t go against each other. And they did.”
He says the current wrangling over Brexit is “painful to watch” and that losing the referendum and his job left him “hugely depressed”.
He has praise for his successor Theresa May, with her “phenomenal” work rate and “ethos of public service” but suggests her Brexit “red lines” left her trapped and unable to reach a deal.
He said he had frequently texted her to sympathise over the “maddening” frustration of Brexiteers repeatedly rejecting her deal, adding: “There’s an argument that Brexit is just impossible to deliver and no one could have done, and there’s an argument that, well, wrong choices were made. This is somewhere in between.”
Mr Cameron’s book will be published by HarperCollins on Sep 19 and he will also will feature in a two-part BBC documentary that begins on the same day.
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Cameron was the best PM the brits had since the war
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Bullet point
It’s everyone’s fault but mine.
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He was depressed. He got a two million quid advance for the book and he charges 120 grand for a speech. And goes home to the lovely Samantha whose old man owns half of Scotland.
He’s a chinless little prick, who doesn’t really give a flying fuck about what he’s unleashed. The archetypal eton snob. Wanker.
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You need to come home Flatty
I do. I fucking hate them.
Unfortunately I think you’ll find the politicians here are pretty cuntish too.
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But none of our young footballers are driving carbon wrapped Bentleys. Whatever the fuck they are.
If Dublin win 5 in a row Con will have 2 of them yokes. Whatever they are
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Flatty’s local deppity is Noel Grealish ffs. Stay where you are.
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David Cameron has an awful lot to answer for
An irrelevant fringe issue which was only taken seriously by bigots has paralysed British politics for the last three and a half years
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Brexit =Cameron
After winning the election in 15 he should have done nothing like a real politician would have done its all his fault we are in this position now no point him whinging about the current state of play.
Jealous much?
You ham
The people spoke . The bastards !!!
Not at all pal.