Gove: Tories owe nation an apology for ‘making the wrong choice’ in Truss

Liz Truss’s tax-cutting agenda was a ‘holiday from reality,’ the Cabinet minister said.

Michael Gove has been reappointed as Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

The Conservatives owe the public an apology for installing Liz Truss as leader, Cabinet minister Michael Gove has said.

The Levelling Up Secretary, who was a vocal critic of the short-lived prime minister’s tax-slashing plans, said he understood people’s anger about the chaos of recent months.

In an op-ed in The Sun, Mr Gove wrote: “We made the wrong choice this summer about the path we should take.

Plans to cut taxes targeted on the richest were a holiday from reality

Michael Gove

“Plans to cut taxes targeted on the richest were a holiday from reality.

“A mini budget that didn’t explain how spending plans would be paid for was an error. To put it mildly.”

The Tory big beast’s article comes before he is due to appear on several Sunday morning broadcast programmes, suggesting that he might enjoy prominence in Rishi Sunak’s administration.

Mr Gove was dramatically sacked by his old rival Boris Johnson in the summer as his premiership collapsed, and then threw his weight behind Ms Truss’s rival Mr Sunak in the race to succeed him.

At the Tory Party conference earlier this month, Mr Gove was one of the ringleaders of the revolt against Ms Truss and then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget, forcing a climbdown over the plan to scrap the 45p top rate of tax.

Furious allies of Ms Truss accused him of getting “his kicks in a sadistic way”.

Mr Sunak offered him a return to Government after taking over from Ms Truss in Downing Street.

Mr Gove said the new Prime Minister “has the experience, competence and compassion to steer us through the choppy economic waters ahead”.

He wrote: “I know that he will not just get the big calls ahead right, but that he will make them with those struggling the most at the forefront of his mind.”