Michael Gove said to be on leadership ‘manoeuvres’ by courting Tory MPs at dinner

Michael Gove has been accused of embarking on "manoeuvres" after it emerged that he courted dozens of Tory backbenchers at a dinner hosted by the MP who ran his last leadership bid.

The Levelling Up Secretary addressed up to 40 MPs at a pub near to the Central London home of Mel Stride, who held similar events with Mr Gove as guest speaker in the run-up to the 2019 leadership campaign.

An MP said the event, on November 24, was ostensibly organised under the auspices of Deep Blue, a dining club founded by Mr Stride - who chairs the Treasury select committee and was a member of the Cabinet for the last two months of Theresa May's premiership.

A source close to Mr Gove said Boris Johnson even addressed the group at Mr Stride's home, before leaving them to decamp to the pub for a speech by his former leadership rival.

The source said: "Any suggestion this was a leadership event are categorically untrue. The PM, ministers and PPSs [ministerial aides] were also in attendance."

But the MP, who attended a similar event hosted by Mr Stride in the run-up to the last leadership contest, insisted that Mr Gove appeared to be on "manoeuvres" once again, stating: "I think everyone sees through it but it's always under the guise of 'let's have a policy discussion'."

The MP added that their colleagues were drawn to Mr Stride's events partly due to "intrigue" over his large home, which is "a very nice place".

A supporter of Mr Gove insisted that Mr Johnson's former leadership rival was "always loyal" to Mr Johnson, whom he betrayed during the 2016 contest.

"Michael going to speak to a group of people about housing can hardly be said to be the same as Truss," source said. Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, is said to have held "fizz with Liz" evenings for 2019 intake backbenchers, in an effort to lay the groundwork for her own future bid.

'Gove is ready to go'

Many MPs still regard Mr Gove with suspicion, following his 11th-hour decision to withdraw his support from Mr Johnson's 2016 bid in order to launch his own. The move led to Mr Johnson calling off his campaign altogether and is seen by many as having fatally wounded Mr Gove's chances of becoming Conservative leader.

The supporter of Mr Gove added: "The advantage Michael has got this time is that he has been scrupulously loyal to Boris,” while there are rumours of difficult relations between Number 10 and the Treasury, as well as concerns about “Truss's manoeuvres".

The source insisted that Mr Gove was not actively seeking to become prime minister - but said that should Mr Johnson stand down, "the circumstances would be incredibly beneficial for him in a way that they weren't previously".

"Gove is ready to go," the minister's supporter said, adding that Mr Sunak and Ms Truss both had less experience as secretaries of state.

Mr Stride's role hosting events for Mr Gove harks back to the 2019 leadership contest, when backbenchers were courted at private dinners in the run-up to the then environment secretary formally launching his bid to succeed Mrs May.

At one dinner hosted at Mr Stride's Central London home in May 2019, Mr Gove told 10 backbenchers that he was a "unity" candidate with "vision" and proven "grip" over government departments.

During the 2019 campaign, Mr Gove's leadership pitch was peppered with jibes directed at the now Prime Minister.

In one speech he said: “If I get through, which I’m sure I will actually, to the final two against Mr Johnson, this is what I will say to him: Mr Johnson, whatever you do, don’t pull out.”

He added: “These are serious times - we need a serious leader. The stakes couldn’t be higher, the consequences couldn’t be greater.”

Mr Gove's pitch included the fact he had “led from the front” during the Vote Leave campaign and had been “tested in battle”.

In October, the Cabinet minister likened his sabotage of Mr Johnson’s 2016 bid to an “unexploded bomb going off in my own hands”.

He added: "One of the things about committing political suicide is that you always live to regret it."

Mr Gove was seen to have been given a key role in September's reshuffle, when he was tasked with delivering Mr Johnson's pledge to "level up" the UK. He also took responsibility for the housing, communities and local government briefs.

Publication of the White Paper designed to set out his key proposals has been repeatedly delayed.