DAVID Cameron has been urged to “please stay away from Scotland” during the EU referendum campaign as No 10 dismissed as complete nonsense claims that Justice Secretary Michael Gove could be sacked over the Brexit row.
During Business Questions at Westminster, Pete Wishart for the SNP told Chris Grayling, the Commons Leader and one of several cabinet ministers supporting the Leave campaign: “Can he please say to the PM: please stay away from Scotland for the next few months; we value our European membership in Scotland. So please can he stay away.”
Mr Wishart, reflecting the view that the Tory leader would be a negative influence rather than a positive one in convincing Scots to vote to stay in the EU, quipped that, in contrast, there was a “warm invitation” to Mr Grayling and his fellow Outers, Mr Gove and Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, “to come to Scotland any time”.
The Perth MP’s remarks followed those of Nicola Sturgeon at the weekend when the First Minister urged Mr Cameron to “think twice” about campaigning in Scotland because, when he did so during the independence referendum, he had the reverse impact he had hoped for and “ratcheted votes up for the Yes campaign".
In response, Mr Grayling revealed he would be in Scotland in 10 days’ time to campaign for the Tories in the Holyrood elections and added: “I’m sure the Prime Minister will be spending time in Scotland, campaigning for that Conservative victory at the Scottish elections in May.”
The Commons Leader caused laughter from his political opponents when he insisted the Prime Minister, the Justice Secretary and the London Mayor were, despite their differences over the EU, all good friends.
He stressed the Tories would have a "grown-up, sensible debate" as MPs taunted him over a week in which Mr Cameron savaged Mr Johnson in the Commons and Mr Gove argued the PM was wrong to assert the reforms he had agreed with his continental counterparts were legal binding.
Mr Grayling told Mr Wishart: “I hate to disappoint you on the European referendum, you're not going to find any nastiness because, actually, we're all friends; we get on with each other."
To laughter from Labour MPs, he added: "They laugh but the difference is they actually all hate each other. Split down the middle; fighting like ferrets in a sack. That today is the Labour Party.”
Earlier, a source close to Mr Cameron reportedly said that it would be “untenable” for Mr Gove to remain in his job as Lord Chancellor following the in-out vote because he had opposed the legal basis of the PM’s deal.
But No 10 was swift to brand the claims “complete nonsense”. A spokesman said: “The PM has full confidence in Michael Gove as Justice Secretary. It doesn’t take more than three seconds of thought to know that this is rubbish.”
The Scottish politician, a close friend and ally of Mr Cameron, sparked a legal row when he argued the European Court of Justice would not be “bound” by the PM’s agreement until EU treaties were changed.
“The whole point about the European Court of Justice is that it stands above the nation states,” Mr Gove declared.
But Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General, insisted his Conservative colleague was wrong, that the Brussels deal had legal force and would have to be taken into account by the European court if there were a challenge. He urged the Secretary of State to consult with his departmental lawyers.
Jeremy Wright, the current Attorney General, the most senior legal officer in the UK Government, also dismissed Mr Gove’s assertions as incorrect while Education Secretary Nicky Morgan argued that the Justice Secretary was “just wrong”.
In the Belgian capital, Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, told MEPs the deal was legally binding and that the European court could not reverse it.
But Mr Gove had his supporters, who included Marina Wheeler, the QC married to Mr Johnson, who argued that the Lord Chancellor was “not wrong” and noted that if the European court considered any part of the deal was incompatible with current EU law, then it could strike it down.
Dominic Raab, Mr Gove's deputy at the Ministry of Justice, claimed the PM’s deal was less binding than the “kind of legal guarantee you get when you buy a dishwasher”.
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