George Osborne scrapped plans to go on holiday with ‘treacherous’ Michael Gove
Samantha Cameron 'put pressure' on the former Chancellor to shun pro-Brexit Gove
GEORGE OSBORNE ripped up plans for a summer holiday with Michael Gove – fuelling fears of a damaging post-Brexit rift between the pair.
The Sun can reveal the ex-Chancellor told his long-term Tory ally that he would have to shelve plans for a break together with the families on the Continent.
One source claimed Samantha Cameron placed pressure on the former Chancellor to shun the Brexit campaigner – telling him “It’s Us or Them.”
She has vowed never to speak to Mr Gove or his wife Sarah Vine over his “treacherous” bid to back Brexit – and then run for the Tory leadership.
The holiday plans emerged at the start of July when Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel Johnson said the pair were trying to keep in close contact despite their differences over the EU.
Mr Osborne ended up going to the US and then to Vietnam – where he was snapped firing a machine gun at a shooting range with the kids.
Close friends of Mr Gove now fear how he will react to being frozen out by his former Cabinet colleagues. One said it was inevitable he wouldn’t be on the guest list at David Cameron’s upcoming 50th birthday celebration next month.
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Anyone with links to the Brexit campaign is expected to be “dis-invited”.
Samantha Cameron was heard having a huge “effing and blinding” row with Sarah Vine in February over Mr Gove’s decision to campaign for Vote Leave.
He went on to infuriate Tory MPs during the leadership campaign by mounting a last ditch bid for the top job – after weeks on ‘Team Boris’.
He ended up coming a distant third behind Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom in the race. At the time, Mrs May’s team called Mr Gove a “huge talent” but he was axed from the Justice post in her reshuffle.
He was spotted earlier this month sporting a new beard on a job near his London home.
A friend of Mr Gove last night insisted: “Michael remains on very good terms with old friends who took a different side in the Referendum.”