Sunak was unaware of Gove attendance at Brexit discussion, No 10 says

theguardian.com:

Rishi Sunak was unaware of Michael Gove’s attendance at a private meeting of prominent former leave and remain campaigners to discuss Brexit, No 10 has said.

Sunak’s spokesperson suggested the prime minister had first become aware of Gove’s attendance at the two-day summit when he read about it in the Observer.

No 10 stopped short of criticising Gove for attending, though it would not say Sunak was happy with the attendance. “Private individuals are able to come in and discuss whatever they wish. From the government’s position, we are focusing on further maximising the benefits from Brexit,” the spokesperson said.

The conference was attended by senior members of Keir Starmer’s frontbench, including the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, as well as the former chief Brexit negotiator Oliver Robbins.

David Frost, another former chief Brexit negotiator, has criticised the event, which had the title “How can we make Brexit work better with our neighbours in Europe?”, and he urged ministers to “fully and enthusiastically embrace the advantages of Brexit”.

The two-day summit, revealed by the Observer on Sunday, was also attended by the Tory grandees Michael Howard and Norman Lamont; the shadow defence secretary, John Healey; the former Treasury permanent secretary Tom Scholar; the pro-leave Labour peer Gisela Stuart, and business leaders and diplomats. It was held at the historic Ditchley Park retreat in Oxfordshire.

On Monday, Lord Frost referred to it as “a further piece of evidence that many in our political and business establishment want to unravel the deals we did to exit the EU in 2020 and to stay shadowing the EU instead”.

Attempting to explain the presence of prominent Brexit backers at the meeting alongside former remain