Who is Michael Gove?

Tory MP and Cabinet Minister Michael Gove

WHO IS MICHAEL GOVE AND WHY IS HE IMPORTANT?? - Michael Gove is the British Cabinet Minister who is responsible for overseeing Brexit preparations including its impact in Ireland. In 2000, two years after the people voted for the Good Friday Agreement, he authored a pamphlet called, “The Price of Peace”. He likened the Good Friday Agreement to the appeasement of the Nazi’s in the 1930's. He has never withdrawn his comments, apologized or removed the pamphlet .

Gove wrote: “The Belfast Agreement poses a threat not just to the Britishness of Northern Ireland but the British way of doing things in law, equality of opportunity, policing and human rights…The Belfast Agreement has, at its heart, however, an even greater wickedness. It is a capitulation to violence, a validation of terrorism which has led to “demilitarization” – the removal of the British Army from our sovereign territory – to be rendered as the equivalent to “decommissioning” – the placing beyond use of illegally-held criminal arsenals. The moral stain of such a process will prove hard to efface. It is a humiliation of our Army, Police and Parliament. But, worse still, it is a denial of our national integrity, in every sense of the word.”

This is a man who now says that he is acting to uphold the Good Friday Agreement by breaking International Agreements that protect it!

This British Government pays lip service to the Good Friday Agreement and has given up all pretense to being non-partisan or even being bound by its principles. The British have brazenly stated that it will breach international law and agreements. While this comes as no surprise to Irish Republicans, promoting this position as a virtue has shocked some in the international community.

This unilateral move and a similar move to trash the Stormont House Agreement makes a mockery of the notion that the British and Irish Governments are equal partners. This British Government knows little and cares even less for Ireland.

But America has skin in the game. It has leverage, When Washington speaks London listens. Micheal Gove and his friends need to hear again and again until they listen - the US supports the Good Friday Agreement. There will be no trade deal if the Good Friday Agreement is not protected and a hard border prevented.