Michael Gove

Michael Andrew Gove (/ɡoʊv/; born Graeme Andrew Logan; 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since 2019 and Minister for the Cabinet Office since 2020. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Surrey Heath since 2005. A member of the Conservative Party, Gove served as Education Secretary from 2010 to 2014, Chief Whip from 2014 to 2015, Justice Secretary from 2015 to 2016 and Environment Secretary from 2017 to 2019. He has twice run to become Leader of the Conservative Party, in 2016 and 2019, finishing in third place on both occasions.

The Right Honourable

Michael Gove

MP
Gove in 2020
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Assumed office
24 July 2019
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byDavid Lidington
Minister for the Cabinet Office
Assumed office
13 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byOliver Dowden
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In office
11 June 2017 – 24 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byAndrea Leadsom
Succeeded byTheresa Villiers
Secretary of State for Justice
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
In office
9 May 2015 – 14 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byChris Grayling
Succeeded byLiz Truss
Chief Whip of the House of Commons
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
In office
15 July 2014 – 9 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byGeorge Young
Succeeded byMark Harper
Secretary of State for Education
In office
12 May 2010 – 15 July 2014
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byEd Balls
Succeeded byNicky Morgan
Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
In office
2 July 2007 – 11 May 2010
LeaderDavid Cameron
Preceded byDavid Willetts
Succeeded byEd Balls
Member of Parliament
for Surrey Heath
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded byNick Hawkins
Majority18,349 (31.3%)
Personal details
Born
Graeme Andrew Logan

(1967-08-26) 26 August 1967
Aberdeen,[1] Scotland
Political partyConservative
Other political
affiliations		Labour (until 1983)
Spouse(s)
(
m. 2001)
Children2
EducationRobert Gordon's College
Alma materLady Margaret Hall, Oxford

Gove attended the independent Robert Gordon's College and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Gove then began a career as an author and journalist for The Times before entering the House of Commons in 2005. He was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet by David Cameron in 2007 as Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and was appointed Education Secretary in the Cameron-Clegg coalition. During his tenure as Education Secretary, he terminated the previous Labour government's Building Schools for the Future programme; reformed A-Level and GCSE qualifications, abolishing modular units and coursework in most subjects, in favour of final examinations, and responded to the Trojan Horse scandal. The National Association of Head Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the National Union of Teachers and the NASUWT passed motions of no confidence in Gove's policies at their conferences in 2013.

In a 2014 Cabinet reshuffle, Gove was moved to the post of Chief Whip. Following the 2015 general election and the formation of the majority Cameron government, Gove was promoted to the office of Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor. In 2016, Gove played a major role in the UK's referendum on EU membership as the co-convenor of Vote Leave. Along with fellow Conservative MP Boris Johnson, Gove was seen as one of the most prominent figures of the Vote Leave campaign. In June 2016, Gove, who was campaign manager for Boris Johnson's leadership bid to become Prime Minister, withdrew his support on the morning that Johnson was due to declare, and announced his own candidacy in the leadership election, finishing third behind Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom.

Following Theresa May’s appointment as Prime Minister he was sacked from the Cabinet; however, following the 2017 general election he was appointed to the Second May government as Environment Secretary. He launched a second Conservative Party leadership bid in 2019 although eventually came third behind Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. Upon the appointment of Johnson as Prime Minister, Gove was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with responsibilities including preparations for a no-deal Brexit. He took on the additional role of Minister for the Cabinet Office in the cabinet reshuffle post-Brexit.

Early life

Graeme Andrew Logan was born on 26 August 1967.[3][4] His biological mother, whom he originally believed to have been an unmarried Edinburgh student, was in fact a 23-year-old cookery demonstrator.[3] Gove regarded his birthplace as Edinburgh until it was revealed in a biography in 2019 that he was born in a maternity hospital in Fonthill Road, Aberdeen.[5]

Logan was put into care soon after he was born. At the age of four months he was adopted by a Labour-supporting couple in Aberdeen, Ernest and Christine Gove, by whom he was brought up.[6] After he joined the Gove family, Logan's name was changed to Michael Andrew Gove.[3] His adoptive father, Ernest, ran a fish processing business and his adoptive mother, Christine, was a lab assistant at the University of Aberdeen, before working at the Aberdeen School for the Deaf.[7]

In Aberdeen, Gove was educated at two state schools (Sunnybank Primary School and Kittybrewster Primary School), and later, on the recommendation of his primary school teacher, he sat and passed the entrance exam for the independent Robert Gordon's College. Later, as he entered the sixth form he had to apply for a scholarship as his family fell on difficult economic circumstances.[6] In October 2012, he wrote an apology letter to his former French teacher for misbehaving in class.[8]

From 1985 to 1988 he read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, graduating with an upper second.[9][10] During his first year, he met future Prime Minister Boris Johnson and helped him become elected President of the Oxford Union.[11] In an interview with Andrew Gimson, Gove remarked that at Oxford, Johnson was "quite the most brilliant extempore speaker of his generation."[12] Gove was elected as President of the Oxford Union a year after Johnson.[13]

Journalism career

Gove became a trainee reporter at The Press and Journal in Aberdeen, where he spent several months on strike in the 1989–1990 dispute over union recognition and representation.[14]

He joined The Times in 1996 as a leader writer and assumed posts as its comment editor, news editor, Saturday editor and assistant editor.[15] He has also written a weekly column on politics and current affairs for the newspaper and contributed to The Times Literary Supplement, Prospect magazine and The Spectator. He remains on good terms with Rupert Murdoch,[16][17] whom Gove described in evidence before the Leveson Inquiry as "one of the most impressive and significant figures of the last 50 years".[18] He wrote a sympathetic biography of Michael Portillo and a highly critical study of the Northern Ireland peace process (The Price of Peace), where he compared the Good Friday Agreement to appeasement of the Nazis in the 1930s.[10][19][20]

He has worked for the BBC's Today programme, On The Record, Scottish Television and the Channel 4 current affairs programme A Stab in the Dark, alongside David Baddiel and Tracey MacLeod, and was a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze and Newsnight Review on BBC Two.[7][21][22]

Political career
Gove outside the Palace of Westminster, December 2008

He briefly joined the Labour Party in 1983 in Aberdeen, but has stated that by the time he left to go to Oxford University he was a Conservative. Gove joined the Oxford University Conservative Association and was secretary of Aberdeen South Young Conservatives.[23] He helped to write speeches for Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet ministers, including Peter Lilley and Michael Howard.[24] When applying for a job at the Conservative Research Department he was told he was "insufficiently political" and "insufficiently Conservative", so he turned to journalism.[25]

Gove had been chairman of Policy Exchange, a conservative think tank launched in 2002.[26][27] He was involved in founding the right-leaning magazine Standpoint, to which he occasionally contributes.[28] Gove expressed admiration in late-February 2003 for New Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair because of the way he was handling the crisis in Iraq: "As a right-wing polemicist, all I can say looking at Mr Blair now is, what's not to like?" Blair, he thought, was "behaving like a true Thatcherite".[29]

Member of Parliament
Gove speaking at the Conservative Party "Big Society, Not Big Government" policy launch

Gove first entered the House of Commons after the 2005 general election having been elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Surrey Heath, after the sitting Conservative MP Nick Hawkins was deselected by the local Conservative Association.[30][31] When David Cameron was first elected as Leader of the Conservative Party in December 2005, he appointed Gove as Shadow Housing Spokesman.[32] Gove is seen as part of an influential set of Conservatives, sometimes referred to as the Notting Hill Set, which includes Cameron, former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, Ed Vaizey, Nick Boles and Rachel Whetstone.[33]

On 2 July 2007, Gove was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (a newly created department set up by Gordon Brown), shadowing Ed Balls. In the role he advocated the introduction of a Swedish-style education voucher system, whereby parents would choose where their child would be educated, with the state paying what they would have cost in a state-school. He also advocated Swedish-style free schools, to be managed by parents and funded by the state,[34] with the possibility that such schools would be allowed to be run on a for-profit model.[35] Prior to the 2010 general election, most of Gove's questions in Commons debates concerned children, schools and families, education, local government, council tax, foreign affairs, and the environment.[36]

In June 2012, Michael Portillo backed Gove to be a serious contender in a future race for the Conservative Party leadership,[37] though Gove had said in an interview a few months before that "I'm constitutionally incapable of it. There's a special extra quality you need that is indefinable, and I know I don't have it. There's an equanimity, an impermeability and a courage that you need. There are some things in life you know it's better not to try."[38]

Secretary of State for Education (2010–2014)
Main article: Michael Gove's tenure as Education Secretary
Gove as Secretary of State for Education, c. 2012

With the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government following the hung parliament after the 2010 general election, Gove became Secretary of State for Education. His first moves included reorganising his department,[39] announcing plans to allow schools rated as Outstanding by Ofsted to become academies,[40] and cutting the previous government's school-building programme.[41] He apologised, however, when the list of terminated school-building projects he had released was found to be inaccurate; the list was reannounced several times before it was finally accurately published.[42]

In July 2010, Gove said that Labour had failed in their attempt to break the link between social class and school achievement despite spending billions of pounds: quoting research, he indicated that by the age of six years, children of low ability from affluent homes were still out-performing brighter children from poorer backgrounds. At a House of Commons Education Select Committee he said that this separation of achievement grew larger throughout pupils' school careers, stating, "In effect, rich thick kids do better than poor clever children when they arrive at school [and] the situation as they go through gets worse".[43]

In March 2011, Gove was criticised for not understanding the importance of school architecture and accused of having misrepresented the cost.[44] In February 2011, he told parliament that one individual made £1,000,000 in one year when the true figure was £700,000 for five advisers at different times over a four-year period.[44]

During the 2010 Conservative Party Conference, Gove announced that the primary and secondary-school national curricula for England would be restructured, and that study of authors such as Byron, Keats, Jane Austen, Dickens and Thomas Hardy would be reinstated in English lessons as part of a plan to improve children's grasp of English literature and language. Academies were not required to follow the national curriculum, and so weren't affected by the reforms. Children who failed to write coherently and grammatically, or who were weak in spelling, were penalised in the new examinations. Standards in mathematics and science were also strengthened.[45]

Gove was criticised by teachers unions for his attempts to overhaul British education. At the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) Annual Conference in March 2013 a motion of no-confidence in Gove was passed.[46] The next month the National Union of Teachers (NUT) passed a vote of no confidence in Gove at their annual conference and called for his resignation.[47] The National Association of Head Teachers and NASUWT also passed motions of no confidence at their conferences that year.[48][49]

Chief Whip of the House of Commons (2014–2015)

On 15 July 2014, Gove's four-year stint in charge of the Department for Education came to an end when he was replaced as Secretary of State for Education by former Treasury Minister Nicky Morgan in a wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle. Gove was moved to the post of Government Chief Whip,[50] which was portrayed as a demotion by his detractors; Prime Minister David Cameron denied this was the case.[51] Gove told BBC News that he had mixed emotions about starting the new role, saying it was a privilege to become Chief Whip but that leaving the Department for Education was "a wrench".[52][53][54]

The position came with a £30,000 pay cut, and a specific media role saw Gove on television and radio "more than a traditional Chief Whip would be".[55] He missed his first House of Commons vote in the new role, as explained by Shadow Commons Leader Angela Eagle; "Gove not only lost his first vote but managed to get stuck in the toilet in the wrong lobby".[56] Gove remained in the post of Chief Whip until May 2015, when the role was taken over by Mark Harper.

Secretary of State for Justice (2015–2016)

After the 2015 general election, Prime Minister David Cameron promoted Gove as Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary in his newly formed Cabinet.[57] He was praised in December 2015 for scrapping the courts fee introduced by his predecessor, Chris Grayling.[58] The fee had been heavily criticised for, among other things, causing innocent people to plead guilty out of financial concerns.[59] Gove removed the 12-book limit on prison books introduced by Grayling, arguing that books increased literacy and numeracy, skills needed for making prisoners a "potential asset to society". The move, effective from September 2015, was welcomed by Frances Cook of the Howard League for Penal Reform.[60] Gove was also praised for his prominent role in scrapping a British bid for a Saudi prison contract.[61]

Within three months of his taking office, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) voted to stop taking new work in protest at Gove's insistence that they work for lower fees.[62] The CBA subsequently praised his "courage" in reversing the proposed cuts.[63] On 14 July 2016 Gove was removed from the position of Justice Secretary by the new Prime Minister, Theresa May.[64]

European Union membership referendum (2016)

Gove was a prominent figure in the campaign for Britain to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum and described his decision to take that side as "the most difficult decision of my political life".[65][66][67] He and his family spent Christmas with the Camerons at Chequers where, according to Craig Oliver, Cameron was under the impression that Gove would support remaining in the EU.[68] He argued Britain would be "freer, fairer and better off" for leaving.[66] When in an interview it was claimed that there was no expert opinion to support this, Gove remarked that "the people of this country have had enough of experts from organisations with acronyms saying they know what is best and getting it consistently wrong."[69] However, interviewer Faisal Islam interrupted Gove after the word "experts",[70] causing some sources to report that he had made a general statement that "the people... have had enough of experts".[71]

In December 2016 Gove repeated the controversial Vote Leave claim that an additional £350 million a week could be spent on the NHS when Britain left the EU but said it was up to the Government to decide how to spend it.[72]

In his memoir For the Record, David Cameron described Gove during this period as "mendacious", adding: "One quality shone through, disloyalty. Disloyalty to me and, later, disloyalty to Boris [Johnson]".[73]

In the aftermath of the referendum, Gove was accused by Nick Clegg of being the source of a claim by The Sun that Queen Elizabeth II made comments supportive of Brexit in a private lunch at Windsor Castle. Clegg told a BBC documentary that Gove "obviously communicated it – well, I know he did".[74][75] Gove declined to deny leaking the Queen's comments.[76][77]

Conservative Party leadership candidate (2016)

After David Cameron announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister, with his successor now likely to be in office by September 2016, Gove was not a candidate, having said in the past that he had no interest in becoming Prime Minister.[78] Instead, he was seen as a strong, highly influential supporter of Boris Johnson for that role. In a move that surprised most political analysts, Gove withdrew his support for Johnson on 30 June 2016, hours before the deadline, without any previous notice to Johnson and announced his own candidacy in the leadership election. Subsequently, Johnson declined to run.[79]

The Daily Telegraph opined that Gove's actions in undermining Johnson's leadership aspirations constituted "the most spectacular political assassination in a generation"[80] while The Guardian labelled it as a "Machiavellian move".[81]

Gove said: "I wanted to help build a team behind Boris Johnson so that a politician who argued for leaving the European Union could lead us to a better future. But I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead. I have, therefore, decided to put my name forward for the leadership. I want there to be an open and positive debate about the path the country will now take. Whatever the verdict of that debate I will respect it. In the next few days I will lay out my plan for the United Kingdom which I hope can provide unity and change."[82]

By 5 July 2016, Gove was in third place in the leadership election, behind Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom; the latter had gained an endorsement from Boris Johnson. Some political analysts predicted that Gove might quit the race if he was unable to beat Leadsom in the first round of voting.[83] Later that day, it was announced that Theresa May had won the first round of voting, with support from 165 MPs, while Andrea Leadsom received 66 votes and Gove trailed with 48.[84] Gove was eliminated in the second ballot after receiving 46 votes, compared to 199 for May and 84 for Leadsom.[85] He subsequently told the media that he was "naturally disappointed" and described his two opponents as "formidable politicians", welcoming the fact that the next PM would be female. He also encouraged a "civilised, inclusive, positive and optimistic debate".[86]

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2017–2019)

In May 2016, Gove voted not to reduce the permitted carbon dioxide emission rate of new homes.[87]

After the 2017 general election, Gove was promoted to Environment Secretary by Prime Minister Theresa May during a reshuffle.[88] Gove said he "was quite surprised" to be asked to join the cabinet after May sacked him in 2016 after she became Prime Minister.[89]

After his appointment, Gove announced that a microbead ban would be put into place by the end of 2017. The ban arrived in early 2018. It meant that manufacturers could no longer produce the tiny beads used in cosmetics and care products. Another ban came in June 2018 which stopped shops from selling products that contained the beads. The reasoning behind the ban was to stop the beads harming marine life.[90]

In 2017 after being appointed to Environment Secretary, Gove announced that a fuel combustion vehicle ban will be put into place due to air pollution. He said that the ban would take effect by 2040 and end the sales of new fuel combustion cars, trucks, vans, and buses that have petrol and diesel engines in the UK. The ban does not include plug-in hybrid vehicles. The reason of the ban is to reduce pollution and carbon emissions from the atmosphere in order stop the endangerment and deaths of people, animals, and plants caused by the pollution and carbon emissions. This also means that the future of transportation in the UK will be plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles.[91]

Gove introduced a ban on bee-harming pesticides like neonicotinoids.[92]

Gove was praised by Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven for his strong stance on issues like bee-harming pesticides, single-use plastic bottles and the future of the internal combustion engine", adding "Gove has defied many people's expectations on the environment".[93]

Gove faced criticism over the appointment of Ben Goldsmith to the role of non-executive director[94] at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as Goldsmith had previously donated cash to Gove's Surrey Heath constituency.[95] Concerns were also raised about the selection process for the job, which was overseen by Sir Ian Cheshire, the chairman of Goldsmith's investment firm, Menhaden Capital Management.[95]

An important aspect of Gove's tenure was the introduction of laws concerning animal welfare. Maximum sentences for the crime of animal cruelty increased, as did protection for animals used by government services, such as police dogs and horses.[96] One of the "toughest worldwide bans" on ivory trade was also introduced in 2018.[97]

In January 2019, Theresa May survived a vote of no confidence in her government, after a "barnstorming" speech from Gove directed towards the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.[98] The speech, which gained significant media attention, attacked Corbyn for his foreign policy record, with Tom Rogan of the Washington Examiner describing it as "A tour de force. It was angry but not fanatical, passionate but not somber, and intellectual but simply put".[99]

In March 2019, Gove argued that "we didn't vote to leave without a deal. That wasn't the message of the campaign I helped lead. During that campaign, we said we should do a deal with the EU and be part of the network of free trade deals that covers all Europe, from Iceland to Turkey".[100]

In April 2019, Gove refused to declare a climate emergency in the United Kingdom after having a meeting with Extinction Rebellion.[101] Despite Gove's refusal, Parliament passed a motion to declare a climate emergency.[102]

Conservative Party leadership candidate (2019)

On 26 May 2019, Gove announced he would stand for the Conservative leadership following Theresa May's resignation, becoming the eighth candidate to enter the contest.[103] He promised to remove the charge for UK citizenship applications from EU nationals if elected,[104] and to replace VAT with a "simpler sales tax".[105] He also planned to scrap the High Speed 2 rail project and increase school funding by £1 billion.[106]

By 5 June, Boris Johnson became the clear frontrunner with the bookmakers, with Gove second favourite, followed closely by Jeremy Hunt.[107] Gove progressed following the first ballot, having received 37 votes and seen off the two women in the contest. He received 41 votes in the second ballot, and by the third ballot had 51 MPs backing him. The fourth ballot saw him gain 61 votes, moving him into second position. In the last ballot, he had 75 votes and was voted out – losing by only two to eventual runner-up Jeremy Hunt.[108]

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (2019–present)
Gove with then-White House National Security Advisor John Bolton in August 2019

Upon the election of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, Gove was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, legally representing the Crown as Duke of Lancaster.[109] His otherwise non-portfolio role includes responsibility for no-deal Brexit preparations, as well as overseeing constitutional affairs, maintaining the integrity of the Union and having oversight over all Cabinet Office policy.[110][111] Gove was excluded from a place on the National Security Council committee as Johnson pursued a slimming down of Cabinet operations.[112] He became a central figure in the conduction of Operation Yellowhammer, the civil contingency planning for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

Writing in The Sunday Times on 28 July 2019, Gove said that a no-deal Brexit is "now a very real prospect" and one that the government is "working on the assumption of".[113][114] He said in August that it was "wrong and sad" that the EU was "refusing to negotiate" over a new withdrawal agreement.[115] That month, an official cabinet Yellowhammer document leaked, predicting that a no-deal Brexit would lead to food, medicine and petrol shortages. Gove said the leaked dossier outlined a "worst-case scenario".[116]

Interviewed on The Andrew Marr Show, Gove declined to say whether the government would abide by legislation designed to stop a no-deal Brexit.[117] A portrait of Gove was installed by the anti-Brexit campaign group Led by Donkeys on a beach in Redcar, North Yorkshire. The drawing featured a quote from Gove in which he said the UK "didn't vote to leave without a deal" in the 2016 referendum.[118]

During the 2019 Speaker of the House of Commons election, Gove nominated the Labour MP Chris Bryant to replace John Bercow.[119]

Gove helped to prepare Johnson for the 2019 general election debates by playing the role of the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.[120] He offered to stand in for Johnson during a Channel 4 debate on environmental issues but the editor of Channel 4 News said the debate was only open to party leaders.[121]

In February 2020, Gove took on additional responsibilities as the Minister for the Cabinet Office, succeeding Oliver Dowden, who had been appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

During the coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom, Gove generated confusion after saying on ITV's Good Morning Britain that children with separated parents were not allowed to move between their parents' homes. He later apologised and clarified that what he said was not the case.[122] When Boris Johnson was self-isolating after having been tested positive for COVID-19, Gove stood in for Johnson briefly from 27 March 2020 at the daily briefings of the pandemic, until Gove self-isolated himself after a family member developed Coronavirus symptoms.

Controversies

Expenses claims
Main article: United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal

Over a five-month period between December 2005 and April 2006, Michael Gove claimed more than £7,000 on a house bought with his wife Sarah Vine, a journalist, in 2002. Around a third of the money was spent at OKA, an upmarket interior design company established by Viscountess Astor, PM David Cameron's mother-in-law.[123] Shortly afterwards he reportedly 'flipped' his designated second home, a property for which he claimed around £13,000 to cover stamp duty.[124] Gove also claimed for a cot mattress, despite children's items being banned under updated Commons Rules. Gove said he would repay the claim for the cot mattress, but maintained that his other claims were "below the acceptable threshold costs for furniture" and that moving house was necessary "to effectively discharge my parliamentary duties".[124] While he was moving between homes, on one occasion he stayed at the Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa in Bagshot, Surrey following a constituency engagement, charging the taxpayer more than £500 per night's stay.[124]

Gove's second home was not in his constituency, but in Elstead, in the South West Surrey constituency. Gove has sold the house and now commutes to his constituency.[125]

Freedom of Information and email

During the Cameron–Clegg ministry, Gove was the subject of repeated criticism for alleged attempts to avoid the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. The criticism surrounds Gove's use of various private email accounts to send emails that allegedly relate to his departmental responsibilities. The allegations suggest that Gove and his advisers believed they could avoid their correspondence being subject to Freedom of Information requests, as they believed that their private email accounts were not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. In September 2011, the Financial Times reported that Gove had used an undisclosed private email account – called ‘Mrs Blurt’ – to discuss government business with advisers.[126][127]

In March 2012 the Information Commissioner ruled that because emails the Financial Times had requested contained public information they could be the subject of a Freedom of Information request and ordered the information requested by the paper to be disclosed.[128][129] Gove was also advised to cease the practice of using private email accounts to conduct government business. He disputed the Information Commissioner's ruling and proceeded to tribunal, costing taxpayers £12,540 in fees for legal advice,[130] but the appeal was withdrawn.[131]

It was also alleged by the Financial Times that Gove and his advisors had destroyed email correspondence in order to avoid Freedom of Information requests. The allegation was denied by Gove's department who stated that deleting email was simply part of good computer housekeeping.[132][133]

First World War centenary

In a controversial article about the First World War centenary in January 2014,[134] Gove criticised academic and television interpretations of World War I as "left-wing versions of the past designed to belittle Britain and its leaders."[135][136]

Some of Gove's key points were rebuffed by the academics that Gove had used to support his thesis. Gove had criticised Cambridge professor Sir Richard Evans saying his views were more like that of an undergraduate cynic in a Footlights review. Instead he urged people to listen to Margaret MacMillan of Oxford University. MacMillan responded, saying: "I agree with some of what Mr Gove says, but he is mistaking myths for rival interpretations of history. I did not say, as Mr Gove suggests, that British soldiers in the First World War were consciously fighting for a western liberal order. They were just defending their homeland and fighting what they saw as German militarism."[137] Evans said Gove's attack was "ignorant" and asked how anyone could possibly say Britons were fighting for freedom given their country's main ally was Tsarist Russia.[138] Jeremy Paxman said Gove had "wilfully misquoted" Evans on the subject of the First World War.[139]

Trump interview

In his capacity as a writer for The Times, Gove gave the first British post-election interview to Donald Trump in January 2017, along with Kai Diekmann from Bild,[140][141] making him the second British politician to meet Trump as President-elect of the United States after Nigel Farage.[15] Despite preferring Hillary Clinton to Trump as President of the United States,[142] Gove's interview and consequent defence of it has been seen by some as praising the President-elect unduly,[143] and a photograph of Gove giving a "thumbs-up" to Trump was widely mocked on social media.[144]

Harvey Weinstein joke

In October 2017, Gove issued an apology for a joke which compared going on the Today programme to a sexual encounter with Harvey Weinstein.[145][146] He was criticised by MPs of all parties who felt allegations of sexual abuse were not a suitable subject for jokes.[147]

Cocaine

In June 2019, reports emerged that Gove had taken cocaine as a journalist in his twenties.[148][149] Gove stated that he regretted having done so, and regarded it as having been a mistake.[148][149] In an article for The Times in December 1999, Gove argued against the legalisation of drugs, criticising members of the middle classes for their hypocrisy in doing so.[150] This was a key component of his 2019 bid to be Leader of the Conservative Party. In reaction, Craig Oliver said it would have a negative impact on his run whereas fellow candidate for leadership Dominic Raab said that he "admires [Gove's] honesty".[151]

Bookcase photograph

In May 2020, Gove was criticised[152] after his wife Sarah Vine shared a bookcase picture "as a very special treat for my trolls" which featured a book by the Holocaust denier David Irving, and a copy of The Bell Curve, which controversially claims that intelligence is highly heritable and that median IQ varies among races.[153][154] Another book in the photograph was The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray, which, according to The Guardian, cites Enoch Powell and argues for protecting white Christian Europe from "outsiders".[155] Beyond Human Rights: Defending Freedom by Alain de Benoist, leader of ethno-nationalist think tank GRECE, and Why We Fight: Manifesto of the European Resistance and Archeofuturism - European Visions of the Post-Catastrophic Age by Guillaume Faye were also featured, both published by European New Right Arktos Media, known for translating far-right material into English.[156] One other book was Leo Strauss and the American Conservative Movement by paleoconservative Paul Gottfried, who coined the term 'Alternative Right' (often shortened to 'Alt-Right') whilst working alongside Richard B. Spencer.[157]

Dominic Cummings

In May 2020 Gove was criticised after defending Dominic Cummings for making a 260 mile trip to Durham with his wife who was ill with COVID-19 at the time.[158]

Political stances

Gove is generally considered as combining socially liberal views — for example, on gay marriage[159] — with a harder Eurosceptic and neoconservative position on foreign affairs.[18] He has expressed his view that the state should generally not interfere in domestic affairs and attests to have campaigned for economic freedom in certain matters. Gove has argued that "the only sustainable ethical foundation for society is a belief in the innate worth and dignity of every individual."[160]

Giving evidence before the Leveson Inquiry in May 2012, Gove said he was "unashamedly on the side of those who say that we should think very carefully before legislation and regulation because the cry 'Something must be done' often leads to people doing something which isn't always wise."[161]

During the 2008 Conservative Party Conference, Gove argued that Edmund Burke, an 18th-century philosopher who commented on organic society and the French Revolution, was the greatest conservative ever. When asked about those who believe "Marx was right all along", he responded that they were guilty of ignoring the systematic abuses and poverty of centrally planned economies, and criticised the historian Eric Hobsbawm, saying that "only when Hobsbawm weeps hot tears for a life spent serving an ideology of wickedness will he ever be worth listening to."[162]

Capital punishment

In 1997, Gove wrote in support of the restoration of hanging as capital punishment, which was abolished in the UK in 1965. Gove argued in The Times that "Were I ever alone in the dock I would not want to be arraigned before our flawed tribunals, knowing my freedom could be forfeited as a result of political pressures. I would prefer a fair trial, under the shadow of the noose."[163]

Foreign policy

The Financial Times describes Gove as having "strong neoconservative convictions".[18]

In 2003, he stated that he did not believe the United States' "current position in the world [was] analogous to that of an Imperial power, as we have come to understand imperial powers".[164]

William Dalrymple, reviewing Gove's book Celsius 7/7 in The Times, dismissed Gove's knowledge of the Middle East as being derivative and based on the views of Bernard Lewis.[165]

On Iraq

Gove proposed that the 2003 invasion of Iraq would bring peace and democracy both to Iraq and the wider Middle East. In December 2008, he wrote that declarations of either victory or defeat in Iraq in 2003 were premature, and that the liberation of Iraq was a foreign policy success.

The liberation of Iraq has actually been that rarest of things – a proper British foreign policy success. Next year, while the world goes into recession, Iraq is likely to enjoy 10% GDP growth. Alone in the Arab Middle East, it is now a fully functioning democracy with a free press, properly contested elections and an independent judiciary ... Sunni and Shia contend for power in parliament, not in street battles. The ingenuity, idealism and intelligence of the Iraqi people can now find an outlet in a free society rather than being deployed, as they were for decades, simply to ensure survival in a fascist republic that stank of fear.[166]

Tariq Ali once recalled how, at the time of the Iraq War, he "debat[ed] the ghastly Gove on television [... and found him] worse than most Bush apologists in the United States."[167]

On intervention in Syria

Gove had to be calmed by parliamentary colleagues in August 2013 after shouting, "A disgrace, you're a disgrace!" at various Conservative and Liberal Democrat rebels who contributed to defeating the coalition government's motion to attack Syria in retaliation for the 2013 Ghouta attacks.[168] He later stated he was reacting to the manner in which Labour MPs celebrated the outcome of the vote.[169]

On Saudi Arabian prisons

In 2015, Gove cancelled a £5.9 million contract to provide services for prisons in Saudi Arabia, according to The Guardian, because it was thought "the British government should not be assisting a regime that uses beheadings, stoning, crucifixions and lashings as forms of punishment." Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was reported to have accused Gove of being naive.[170]

Israel and Jewish people

Gove has described himself as "a proud Zionist",[171] and supports the United Jewish Israel Appeal's fundraising activities.[172] In 2019, he reiterated "One thing I have always been since I was a boy is a Zionist." and spoke of his desire to "celebrate everything that Israel and the Jewish people have brought to the life of this world and hold it dear to our hearts." and that "For as long as I have breath in my body and a platform on which to argue I shall be on your side, by your side and delighted and honoured to argue, powerfully I hope, on behalf of people who have contributed so powerfully to the life of this nation."[173]

Gove is, like the great majority of UK Conservative Party MPs, a member of Conservative Friends of Israel.[174] He has said that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel is anti-Semitic.[175] Gove said that jihadist terrorists "hate Israel, and they wish to wipe out the Jewish people's home, not because of what Israel does but because of what Israel is – free, democratic, liberal and western."[175]

Health

Gove is one of several Conservative MPs who co-authored Direct Democracy: An Agenda for a New Model Party (2005).[176][177] The book says the NHS "fails to meet public expectations" and calls for it to be dismantled and replaced with personal health accounts.[176] Gove fractured his foot in July 2015. His wife Sarah Vine (somewhat inaccurately[178]) complained in her Daily Mail column that he could not have his foot X-rayed by the NHS because the minor injuries unit the couple visited did not provide the facility at weekends.[179]

Religion

In 2012, Gove was behind plans to provide schools throughout England and Wales with a copy of the King James Bible (inscribed "presented by the Secretary of State for Education") to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its translation into English, though he said he backed the scheme because of the historical and cultural significance of that translation rather than on purely religious grounds.[180][181]

In 2013, while noting the singing of the "deliberately anti-Catholic rant" (the Famine Song at Rangers-Celtic matches) Gove credited Cardinal Keith O'Brien with using his intellect to protect the vulnerable in Scotland whilst regretting the absence of a similar figure in the Kirk.[182]

In April 2015, he described his faith in an article for The Spectator magazine. In widely reported remarks, he complained that "to call yourself a Christian in contemporary Britain is to invite pity, condescension or cool dismissal."[183][184]

In 2016, he credited his Christian faith for his focus as Justice Minister on redemption and rehabilitation.[185]

On the privilege of public service

In remarks prepared for the 2020 Ditchley Lecture, Gove portrayed what he saw as the malaise of modern society as leading to populism, because the non-intellectual classes "chose to opt for polarised identity politics rather than stay with broad-based national political movements" instead of choosing to follow the politics of diversity, inclusion and identity politics they were force-fed by the elites. He praised Franklin D. Roosevelt as a model for his renewal of capitalism and he imagined the construction of inclusive societies with the deconstruction of Whitehall. Gove stressed "basic writing, meeting chairing and time management skills" for all policy civil servants. He ended with a perplexing paean to his purpose in public service: "to tackle inequality".[186][187]

Other views

Gove's proposal for a new Royal Yacht costing £60 million was made public in January 2012.[188] Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg criticised the idea, calling it "a case of the haves and the have yachts".[189]

Gove believes that Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom, arguing that Scotland's strengths complement those of other parts of the UK.[190]

While deeply critical of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Gove believes that "there have also been more benign empires, and in that I would include, almost pre-eminently, the British."[164]

In March 2014, he described the concentration of Old Etonians at the top of the Conservative coalition as "ridiculous. I don't know where you can find a similar situation in any other developed economy."[18]

Gove was a member of the winning team in Grampian Television's quiz show Top Club,[191] and played the school chaplain in the 1995 family comedy A Feast at Midnight.[192][193]

Gove was portrayed by actor Oliver Maltman in the 2019 HBO and Channel 4 produced drama entitled Brexit: The Uncivil War.[194][195]

Personal life

Gove is married to journalist Sarah Vine, who formerly wrote for The Times[196] and in 2013 became a Daily Mail columnist.[197] They have two children.

Gove contracted H1N1 swine flu during the 2009 influenza pandemic.[198]

Gove is a supporter of Queens Park Rangers Football Club.[199]

Honours

Awards

In 2019, LBC's Iain Dale and a "panel of experts" placed Gove third in a list of that year's 'Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives'.[201]

Bibliography

Further reading
  • Oliver, Craig (2016). Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit. Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 978-1-473-65247-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Bennett, Owen (2019). Michael Gove: A Man In A Hurry. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1785904400.

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Nick Hawkins		 Member of Parliament
for Surrey Heath
2005–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
David Willetts
as Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills		 Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
2007–2010		 Succeeded by
Ed Balls
as Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Preceded by
Ed Balls
as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families		 Secretary of State for Education
2010–2014		 Succeeded by
Nicky Morgan
Preceded by
George Young		 Chief Whip of the House of Commons
2014–2015		 Succeeded by
Mark Harper
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
2014–2015
Preceded by
Chris Grayling		 Secretary of State for Justice
2015–2016		 Succeeded by
Liz Truss
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
2015–2016
Preceded by
Andrea Leadsom		 Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
2017–2019		 Succeeded by
Theresa Villiers
Preceded by
David Lidington		 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
2019–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Oliver Dowden		 Minister for the Cabinet Office
2020–present
Party political offices
Preceded by
George Young		 Conservative Chief Whip of the House of Commons
2014–2015		 Succeeded by
Mark Harper
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