Michael Gove says personal attacks on ex-wife Sarah Vine hurt most in his career

Former Conservative cupboard minister Michael Gove has stated critics’ attacks of his ex-wife Sarah Vine was “the thing that really hurt most” throughout his political career.

Gove stated Vine was “portrayed as a sort of Lady Macbeth figure” as he weighed up backing Boris Johnson for Tory chief, following the Brexit vote in 2016.

He stated the “fact she was attacked in that way at a time of turmoil overall was incredibly hurtful”.

Gove – who stood down as an MP forward of June’s normal election – opens up about his most troublesome moments in politics on his new BBC Radio 4 collection.

In Surviving Politics with Michael Gove, the previous training secretary speaks candidly with politicians from totally different events in regards to the strengths and expertise wanted in powerful instances.

For one episode, Gove interviewed Labour spin physician and former cupboard minister Peter Mandelson.

Now editor of the Spectator journal, Gove requested Mandelson what recommendation he would give new Labour MPs who’ve entered Parliament following this yr’s normal election.

“Be very clear what you believe in, what your convictions are, what your project is and what you want to achieve,” Mandelson stated.

He then requested Gove: “All sorts of things have happened to you in the course of your political career. If you had to identify one really personal thing that hurt, what was that?”

Gove recalled how in 2016, Vine by chance despatched a non-public electronic mail – meant to be learn by him and his shut advisors – to a member of the general public, who leaked it to the press.

In the e-mail, Vine had suggested her husband to get assurances from Johnson “otherwise you cannot guarantee your support” for his management bid.

Two days later, Johnson unexpectedly withdrew, after Gove made a shock try to change into chief of the Conservative Party.

Gove stated his ex-wife, “whom I still love very much”, was “a strong woman” and disputed the comparability to Lady Macbeth.

Gove stated: “It’s always fine if you’re being attacked on ground where you think, yeah, I’m happy to defend myself.

“But when it’s a misunderstanding and a misunderstanding that affects someone close to you, that’s particularly difficult.”

He added: “It’s when people seek to construct a narrative and they draw someone else in and that person is collateral damage in an attack on you. It hurts so much.”

Mandelson stated he noticed “an echo of that in my own life, with my own partner, now husband, when they went for him and they did”.

In the interview, Mandelson stated: “I didn’t even think I could necessarily enter Parliament because I was gay.”

He stated he lived overtly with his accomplice and was informed by folks “you’re going to find it very difficult to be selected.

“And it was a struggle and in the 1987 election, which was the first campaign I directed, I was targeted viciously by the News of the World,” he stated.

Mandelson talked about inside Labour divisions and the energy battle between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair as they vied for management of the social gathering in the Nineties.

In a dialog about “change-makers” in the present Labour authorities, Mandelson described Health Secretary Wes Streeting as “courageous”.

Mandelson stated: “Courageous and foolhardy? Let’s see I don’t see any point in being in politics unless you’re going to be a minister like that.”

He stated “if there are others like Wes Streeting, then I’ll certainly be supporting them”.

You can take heed to all episodes of Surviving Politics with Michael Gove from Monday 21 October 2024 on BBC Sounds.