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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.”
“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.
Mr Jenrick’s office has been approached for comment.
