'It's not the 90th minute' in election, Michael Gove insists

you thought we're going to have to take an emergency break we didn't know where you were I'm so sorry K I was just around the corner getting a cup of tea okay very good Michael go is with us as you can see Secretary of State for leveling up um first of all can we talk about these people that seem to be knowing what was happening as far as the election date is concerned and putting bets on what's all that about it well I I don't know but I know that there are two people who um are now subject to this process I think from the gambling commission three actually well there's a police officer as well um who's also facing a a sort of parallel process um I don't know all the details but obviously um it is not something that anyone should be doing should have done it's wrong but uh there's a process now and one of the things I learned when I was a Justice minister is that you shouldn't you know obviously it's a matter of public interest but a politician shouldn't provide a running commentary on an investigation I understand that but there's two issues really one of them is you know whether or not they've broken the law and we'll find out but the other is when you are a senior politician you need to be able to trust the people around you don't you yeah so how does that make you feel how would you feel if you were discussing at a high level something like this or whatever it might be and the people in the car with you were listening in and then basically selling that information well it's disappointing um but I have to say deeply disappointing but I have to say it's the uh exception rather than the rule um in all the time that I've been a minister I've been very lucky the people with whom I've worked including dedicated police protection officers are people who are prepared to to risk an enormous amount to safeguard others and just because and and so far obviously we'll wait to see what happens so far there's only been the allegation about about one chap in the police and then two people in politics yeah it's it's deeply disappointing and upsetting betrayal well again uh I don't want to sort of preempt the process and and you're absolutely right that uh for those who were in possession of the facts and find that others used that information or may have used that information uh to make money that is you know that's terrible uh I would feel betrayed I can completely understand that but again uh I don't want to sort of uh prejudge the the process but yeah I completely understand yeah um our latest election uh poll with yugov says the Tories are on for the lowest number of seats since the party's formation in 1834 this is got to hurt well obviously the polls are not the cheeriest reading but um I'm that's a bit of an understatement Mr go well you know would a me favor understatement but but the other thing though that I would say is to continue the abedine theme um uh I'm a Scotland fan so you wait until the final whistle sometimes it looks as though the odds are against you but you keep on fighting so the important thing in this in this more Germany than Switzerland this is 51 but yeah I know but but but but that just shows improvement over time um you got the time but they there are still two weeks we can still make those arguments and of course I'm not going to deny that politicians look at polls of course we do however the choice at this election is not between uh Sky poll and the telegraph's poll or the times's poll it's between labor and conservatives between two different sets of ideas and again there's a a relatively straightforward choice to my mind if you want to continue with lowering taxes that is what Rishi sunk would do K sta is clear he would raise your taxes £2,000 per family over the lifetime of a labor government and potential tax rises in council tax taxing your home your car uh uh uh and potentially your pension as well uh tax would go up um under a conservative government during the lifetime of the next Parliament if you want there be there'd be a Divergence between conservative and labor so everyone knows but taxes would go up you said they would go off yeah everyone knows that uh it's a straightforward choice and Kama himself has acknowledged it and in particular um well you know one of my worries is that uh there would be uh increased taxes on pensioners increased taxes on firsttime buyers increased taxes on business Kama says he wants growth I believe him but the detail of all of these tax increases would be to depress growth and make everyone in this country poorer so why um given that uh you and your colleagues have been banging on about this for more than a month now is that not message not Landing to the extent where the conservative Bible The Daily Telegraph uh is suggesting that the Prime Minister could be um the first Prime Minister ever to lose his seat at a general election well I'm not sure that the Daily Telegraph is the conservative Bible maybe the Old Testament but not the not the whole pack fall this morning not the not the whole package um but but it is one of those opinion pools and as we both acknowledge they're um they're not cheery reading but uh one of the things about the prime minister is he's amazingly resilient and uh during the course of amazingly unpopular during the course of the uh leadership battle when he was against uh listra or they were arguing over who should be the leader of the conservative party uh he was told you're going to lose um but he made an argument and that argument that argument was Vindicated and the argument that he made then about the future of our economy showed that he was a brave uh he was prepared to uh put up with uh criticism in order to make an argument that he believed was correct and then he was proven right so I'd prefer a leader who's both courageous and right to the alternative I'm one that still had his seat well uh again I'm confident um uh that the Prime Minister will be returned in Richmond as I'm confident that lots of conservative candidates will be returned but what we need to do as a as a party and a government overall is to have a conversation with the electorate the electorate of course will look at polls and front pages but what they're really interested in are policies and of course they'll ask us some tough questions about our record and the future but the decisions that they make will be decisions about the straightforward choice between either Rishi or Karma as prime minister and I think on that basis more and more people will come to the conclusion that it is right to support the conservatives one lesson that some people may draw from the opinion polls is that if these opinion polls are correct then labor are on cause for a super majority will use that super majority to rig the system to give votes criticize labor for getting more votes it's it's down to you guys not being able to get your message across well as I say I hope we're getting um our message across on tax um and one of the things is that if people do reflect on the polls and and of course uh some may they'll ask themselves this question so if lab do have that really big majority what's to stop them rigging the system what's to stop them uh giving votes to EU citizens 16y olds prisoners and making sure that they could be a forever government if if they've been given a mandate it's not rigging the system well all of these are things that um we know that labor entertained in the past and my concern is that they would use their power in order to entrench themselves in power as a general rule uh democracies is a better when you got a vigorous 14 years when you've got a vigorous opposition and a strong independent media I don't believe that Kiama on the basis of his past would welcome a vigorous Independent Media uh holding labor to account and he certainly would from position he's going to get it well well if he's elect Ed then um I think that you know both of us in our respective roles uh uh you as one of the nation's most popular broadcasters me as a conservative we're both going to have to do our bit to hold them to account the more conservatives there are in Parliament the better served our democracy will be so why are you not getting your message across I come back to my point initially given all of that why do people not want to vote conservative at this election well again we'll see on polling day so again there are opinion polls as I've acknowledged and as we both know they're not great but it's not the 90th minute um you know we're not we're not in Fergie time yet so there is still an opport there is still an opportunity for us to make these ARS at and as we make these arguments um my experience um and I know it's it's just me and um uh a range of seats not every seat in the country my experience is that when you do talk to voters outline some of the tax dangers outline some of Labor plans for the future then people do think twice and people do recognize that by voting conservative you are both ensuring that there is a strong conservative voice in pament but also you are doing everything you can to prevent a series of tax increases that won't just hit pensioners and first-time buyers but will hit the economy in the guts so why are you leaving the field then um well I'm over the hill um so I've been in Parliament for 20 years um I've been a minister for 309 of the last 14 years uh I believe that it's time for the conservative party to have a new generation coming forward people like CLA coutinho Laura Trot KY Bok alongside Rishi sunk um and I will do my very best as a conservative to support them in that endeavor but you know I uh have I've done my my shift and it's time for people who've got a greater degree of you know a bigger future in front of them uh to take on that torchure I read that this morning in um the Old Testament that um Boris Johnson's going to make uh make a comeback probably for 2029 to be um the conservative leader again well that's a long way uh ahead um there were lots of prophets in the support there were lots of prophets in the Old Testament and their prophecies were indeed true would you support him well I I love Boris so again who knows what will happen in the future is that a yes but the thing is it's so far in the future I want Rishi sunk to be prime minister after the election um and I want Boris to play a big part in our national life because he's a great asset um are you going to support England or Scotland at the Euros um I will support Scotland whenever they play England whenever they play and if england plays Scotland I'll support Scotland yeah because you always teams sent to support the winning team don't you well as a Scotland fan that is clearly emphatically not the record more politics uh no I think um well on the whole the conservatives have successfully managed to win a variety of Elections but I think there have been some some causes that um I've embraced that haven't sadly uh won in the past and so uh uh what I try to do is to look at the evidence follow my heart and then make a call on that basis yeah you sound pretty I've got to let you go but you sound pretty chipper you're not really are you I am I think I think I I think you you you know in politics um you've got to be a happy warrior um and I think that there are good reasons to be proud of many of the things the conservative done over the last 14 years and there is also a clear choice at this election okay and a clear choice between higher taxes under labor and lower taxes under the conservatives as we know taxes will go up under the conservatives we've already established that as well um so you're not given that you're not um you've not got a seat to stand in um do you want to come and work with us on Election night well I'm not sure what I'll be doing on Election would you like to come and work with those U it may well be that on Election night that I'll be doing my best to support the final get out the vote campaign in one of our seats so it may it may well be that after that that I want to thank our activists in one of our seats as well okay so that's a no then at this stage but there's still two weeks to go there you go exactly it's always great to see you thanks very much thank you very much a lot

Channel: Sky News

Views: 21,410

Keywords: Sky, News, UK, General election, Conservatives, Vote, Boris Johnson, Candidates, Tories, Levelling Up, Michael Gove, Government, Rishi Sunak, Gambling Commission, Polls

Id: 8Clx9rbsBW8

Length: 11min 46sec (706 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 20 2024