There Is A Real-Life House Of Cards Political Drama Happening Right Now In London And It Is Awesome

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We have eight more months to wait for the next season of Netflix’s hit political drama House of Cards to be released, but why wait for the fiction when the non-fiction is just as good and happening right now?

That’s the situation going on in London today, as the Conservative party is being puppetteered by a British Frank Underwood with bad teeth and no charisma. Justice Minister Michael Gove and his power-hungry newspaper columnist wife have created a plot so thick and juicy, it will have its own Netflix special in no-time.

Gove is the man solely responsible for ousting Boris Johnson, the English Donald Trump, from seeking the Prime Minister position after David Cameron stepped down. The whole thing is absolutely fascinating and twisted, and I’ll do my best to summarize it below.

Basically, Gove, a political figure with the charisma of a hemorrhoid, enlisted Boris Johnson as a spokesman for the Leave EU campaign. Gove, who has long believed the UK should separate itself from the rest of Europe, didn’t think he had the political cajones to head the movement himself. But Boris Johnson did.

Johnson absolutely killed it. Initially a skeptic of the movement, Johnson went out and campaigned so well that when the referendum ended with the Leave campaign being victorious, pretty much everybody assumed that Johnson would take David Cameron’s spot as prime minister.

Even Johnson believed that.

But here is where it gets dirty. On the morning of Johnson’s announcement to seek the prime minister position, Gove called his campaign to let them know that Johnson would not have Gove’s support and that Gove, a man who had stated multiple times he would never seek the position himself, was seeking the position himself. He was also stealing all of the support he had drummed up for Johnson in the weeks leading up to the announcement.

It was likely his plan all along.

From The Telegraph:

“Hi Lynton, it’s Michael Gove here,” said the voice on the other end. “I’m running.”

“Running what?” Sir Lynton replied.

“I’m running for the leadership myself.”

Sir Lynton was stunned. With two hours to go until the launch of Mr Johnson’s leadership bid, Mr Gove, the man who was supposed to be making up the “dream ticket” with him, had not so much stabbed him in the back as run him through with a pikestaff.

The Telegraph understands that Sir Lynton asked Mr Gove whether he had told Mr Johnson. He had not, but said he intended to. The call, however, was never made.

By noon, Mr Johnson, the front-runner for the Tory leadership, was no longer a runner at all, ousted by what was being called a “cuckoo nest plot”. Having been comprehensively stitched up by his running mate and several other “supporters”, he threw in the towel, his ambitions in ruins…

“Gove is a —- who set this up from start,” said one, bluntly. Could they be right?

Gove’s wife, Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine, was clearly in on it, too. She purposely leaked emails to question confidence in Johnson’s bid and even tipped off media about his whereabouts during secret meetings. Classic Claire Underwood stuff, right here.

“Events since last Thursday have weighed heavily with me,” Mr Gove said in his statement. “I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead.”

All of a sudden, the leaking of the Sarah Vine email did not seem so accidental after all. Was it deliberately given to Sky News to undermine Mr Johnson and pave the way for a Gove challenge?

In Westminster, lobby journalists were reminding each other of Lenin’s famous comment that: “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” Except in this case, the time frame was hours, not weeks.

So much drama. If you have time, I suggest reading this appropriately titled column, “In the Tory laundry basket, Michael Gove is the dirtiest item.” It does a far better job of explaining the intricacies of this madness than I have. Definitely worth your time.

I’ll tune back in with occasional updates, but you need to follow this story yourself. With all of our good TV shows ending last week (Game of Thrones, Veep, Silicon Valley), we are going to need some high-drama entertainment this summer. This story just might be it..

[via The Telegraph]

Image via YouTube

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