Michael Gove has revealed that the most painful moment of his political career was the personal attacks on his former wife, Sarah Vine. The ex-Tory minister said the criticism, particularly after a leaked email in 2016, was deeply hurtful.
In extracts from a new BBC podcast, 'Surviving Politics with Michael Gove', the former MP described how Vine, a Daily Mail columnist, accidentally sent an email to Gove and his advisers in 2016. The message, which advised Gove to seek a specific cabinet job offer before supporting Boris Johnson's leadership bid, was leaked to the media.
Gove, who stood down as an MP before the July general election and now edits the Spectator, said Vine was unfairly compared to Lady Macbeth. He told former Labour minister Peter Mandelson: '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.'
Two days after the email was sent, Gove made his own surprise bid for the Conservative leadership, prompting Johnson to withdraw from the race. Gove held several cabinet posts between 2010 and 2022, including education and justice secretary, but lost his Surrey Heath seat to the Liberal Democrats in the last election.
