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What was the point of pretending the Yellowhammer no-deal Brexit document was out of date?

Michael Gove insisted the leaked document was old, but it turns out it was written on 1 August – so how effective is this kind of spin, asks John Rentoul

Tuesday 20 August 2019 20:42 BST
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Perhaps Gove thought public opinion was so polarised that people would believe whatever they wanted
Perhaps Gove thought public opinion was so polarised that people would believe whatever they wanted

Michael Gove’s new role in government is to act as Boris Johnson’s crumple zone – the part of the vehicle of government designed to absorb the shocks of the bumps on the road to no-deal Brexit.

In one of the new prime minister’s more brutal moves, Gove – who as a departmental minister had warned of the serious consequences of leaving the EU without an agreement – was put in charge of no-deal planning.

So when the Yellowhammer document detailing what might happen in a no-deal scenario was leaked to The Sunday Times, Gove was the obvious minister to go on TV to reassure a nervous nation.

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