Sunday 2 October 2022 09:45 AM Michael Gove accuses Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng of 'a number of mistakes' in ... trends now

Michael Gove tore into Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's market-melting mini-Budget today, accusing them of being 'un-Conservative' for using public borrowing to fund tax cuts for the rich.

The former minister, who backed Ms Truss's rivals Kemi Badenoch and Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership race, hit out over her 'mistakes'  as the Conservative Party Conference started in Birmingham.

In a stinging attack on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg he suggested he would join Tory rebels willing to vote down the financial package that led to panic in the sterling, mortgage and pensions markets.

It came as party chairman Jake Berry said the rebels faced being kicked out of the parliamentary party if they did go against the Government.

Ms Truss admitted this morning there were problems with the way Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's fiscal event was communicated but backed the contents.

She has faced criticism over plans to increase Government borrowing by tens of billions of pounds at the same time as she cuts taxes for the richest. 

Mr Gove has a number of speaking engagements at the conference, suggesting he does not intend to be a quiet backbencher.

And he was given a prime front row seat as a commentator after her BBC interview. In a withering assessment he said he was 'profoundly' concerned.

'There were two things that were problematic with the fiscal event. The first was the sheer risk of using borrowed money to fund tax cuts, that's not conservative,' he said.

'The second thing is the decision to cut the 45p rate and at the same time to change the law which governs how bankers are paid in the City of London. Ultimately at a time when people are suffering … when you have additional billions of pounds in play, to have as your principal decision a headline tax move cutting taxes for the wealthiest, that is a display of the wrong values.