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

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Former Conservative minister Michael Gove said critics' attacks on his ex-wife Sarah Vine were what hurt him most during his political career.

Gove said Vine was portrayed as a sort of Lady Macbeth character as he considered supporting Boris Johnson as Tory leader, following the 2016 Brexit vote.

He said the fact that she was attacked in this way at a time of widespread unrest was incredibly hurtful.

Gove – who resigned as an MP ahead of July's general election – talks about his toughest times in politics in his new BBC Radio 4 series.

In Surviving Politics with Michael Gove, the former Education Secretary speaks candidly to politicians from different parties about the strengths and skills needed in difficult times.

For one episode, Gove interviewed Labor communications specialist and former minister Peter Mandelson.

Now editor of the Spectator magazine, Gove asked Mandelson what advice he would give to new Labor MPs who entered Parliament after this year's general election.

Be very clear about what you believe in, what your convictions are, what your plan is and what you want to achieve, Mandelson said.

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He then asked Gove: All sorts of things have happened to you during your political career. If you had to identify one truly personal thing that hurts, what would it be?

Gove recalled how, in 2016, Vine accidentally sent a private email – intended to be read by him and his close advisers – to a member of the public, who leaked it to the press.

In the email, Vine had advised her husband to get assurances from Johnson or you won't be able to guarantee your support for his leadership bid.

Two days later, Johnson unexpectedly withdrew, after Gove made a surprise bid to become leader of the Conservative Party.

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

Gove said: It's always good if you're attacked on a pitch where you think, yes, I'm happy to defend myself.

But when it comes to a misunderstanding and incomprehension that affects someone close to you, it is particularly difficult.

He added: It's when people are trying to build a narrative and they attract someone else and that person is collateral damage in an attack on you. It hurts so much.

Mandelson said he saw an echo of that in my own life, with my own partner, now husband, when they sought it out and did it.

In the interview, Mandelson said: I didn't even think that I could necessarily get into Parliament because I was gay.

He said he was living openly with his partner and that people had told him it would be very difficult for him to be selected.

And it was a struggle and in the 1987 election, which was the first campaign I managed, I was viciously targeted by the News of the World, he said.

Mandelson spoke of internal divisions of labor and power struggle between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair as they vied for party leadership in the 1990s.

In a conversation about changemakers in the current Labor government, Mandelson described Health Secretary Wes Streeting as courageous.

Mandelson said: “Brave and reckless? Let's see, I don't see any point in getting into politics unless you're a minister like that. »

He said if there were others like Wes Streeting then I would definitely support them.

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

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