COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

The Conservatives will not “get into bed” with Nigel Farage by making a deal with the UK Independence Party after the general election, Michael Gove has said.



In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Gove became the first senior Tory to rule out any kind of deal with Mr Farage's party in the event of another hung Parliament.

He said that Ukip has now "peaked" and suggested that the party could even be left with no MPs after the election.

Senior Tories including George Osborne, the Chancellor, have in recent weeks failed to categorically rule out a deal with Nigel Farage's party after the May 7 vote and Mr Farage has said that he would consider an alliance if the Tories offered an immediate EU referendum.

But Mr Gove insisted that there is no “appetite, interest or inclination towards” forming a pact.

Asked to rule out Mr Farage’s offer of a deal after the election, Mr Gove said: “Yes. It’s very nice of [Nigel Farage to say he would do a deal]. I don’t want to say anything disobliging about Nigel Farage or about people in Ukip, but I’ve got not appetite, interest or inclination towards doing a deal with anyone.”

Pressed specifically on whether the Tories could make agreements with Ukip on a vote-by-vote basis, Mr Gove said: “No, no, no. There won’t be. Firstly, I don’t think there will be many Ukip MPs – if any – after the election.

“I can’t influence how other parties choose to vote. So in this Parliament, we’ve had in the final months two Ukip MPs, and sometimes they’ve voted with the Conservatives and sometimes against.

“But we’re not going into talks with them, no. I’ll be perfectly civil with any member of Parliament from any party after the next general election and if they want to vote for Conservative policies, then great. But we’re not going to get into bed with them, no.”