Today’s Guardian has an odd splash headline, denouncing as ‘Orwellian’ a letter that Michael Gove and Boris Johnson sent to Theresa May warning her that some parts of her government are unprepared for ‘no deal’. I’m not quite sure what’s Orwellian about that, or even so controversial. Here’s the leaked extract of the letter.
‘Your approach is governed by sensible pragmatism. That does not in any way dilute our ambition to be a fully independent self-governing country by the time of the next election. If we are to counter those who wish to frustrate that end, there are ways of underlining your resolve. We are profoundly worried that in some parts of government the current preparations are not proceeding with anything like sufficient energy. We all want you to push your agenda forward with confidence and have your government articulate the following.’
For such a letter to leak is unusual, but its contents are hardly incendiary (or Orwellian).
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