Michael Gove has said that the most hurtful part of his political career was the attacks on his former wife, Sarah Vine.
In extracts of a new BBC podcast about politics hosted by Gove, the former Conservative minister and MP said this was particularly the case when an email in 2016 from Vine offering advice to her then-husband was accidentally sent to other recipients and leaked to the media.
Vine, a Daily Mail columnist, had intended to send the email to Gove and his then-advisers, but sent it more widely, and it was passed on to outlets including the Guardian.
Coming when Gove had been expected to support Boris Johnson’s bid to become Conservative leader to replace David Cameron, Vine told him and the advisers to hold back until there was a specific offer of a cabinet job.
It said: “One simple message: you MUST have SPECIFIC from Boris OTHERWISE you cannot guarantee your support. The details can be worked out later on, but without that you have no leverage.”
Two days after the email was sent, Gove made his own surprise bid for the leadership, after which Johnson pulled out of the race.
In extracts from Surviving Politics with Michael Gove, he was asked by another former politician, Peter Mandelson, to set out “one really personal thing that hurt” during his career.
Gove, who stood down as an MP before the July general election, and now edits the Spectator, described the events of 2016, saying that it had led to Vine, who he described as “a strong woman”, being unfairly compared to Lady Macbeth.
Gove said: “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.”
Gove held a series of cabinet posts from 2010 including education, justice, environment and communities secretary. His Surrey Heath constituency was lost to the Liberal Democrats in the election.
