The cocaine scandal that hurt Michael Gove‘s Conservative leadership bid in 2019 was leaked by a rival in an act of political betrayal after his former special advisor shared the secret, columnist Sarah Vine has alleged.
Speaking on the latest Alas Vine & Hitchens podcast, Vine explained that Gove had privately admitted cocaine use in his youth to his special advisors when preparing for his 2016 leadership bid.
When Gove ran for the leadership again in 2019, an unnamed former advisor who had joined a rival’s campaign revealed the secret, which the candidate then weaponised against him – leaking it to the press.
You can listen to the latest episode of Alas Vine & Hitchens by clicking the player below or here
Vine said she had no knowledge of the drug use before Gove went public, explaining he had only told his special advisors and that she was ‘probably asleep in bed’ when he made the admission.
She described how ‘the people it most affected’ were their children, with every child in her son’s class taunting him with sniffing sounds the morning after the story broke.
‘Michael did not discuss it with me at all beforehand’, the Daily Mail columnist told podcast co-host Peter Hitchens.
‘The reason it came out was because he’d had a conversation with his special advisors when he was running for the leadership.
Vine said she had no knowledge of the drug use before Gove went public. Listen here
Gove admitted to the Daily Mail in June 2019 that he took cocaine ‘on several occasions at social events’ more than 20 years earlier
He finished third in the race to become Conservative Party leader, losing out to Boris Johnson
‘They said to him: ‘Is there anything we should know? Just in case.’
‘He said: ‘Well, when I was very, very young, I took some drugs.’
‘A few years later, the special advisors had disbanded and one of them went to work for one of the people he was up against in the leadership contest.
‘That person, who I will not name, said: ‘Oh, I have got some great kompromat on Gove.’
‘That’s how the story came out. That tells you how unpleasant politics really is. You can literally trust no one.’
Gove admitted to the Daily Mail in June 2019 that he took cocaine ‘on several occasions at social events’ more than 20 years earlier when working as a young journalist, saying ‘it was a mistake.’
He finished third in the race to become Conservative Party leader, losing out to Boris Johnson after the resignation of Theresa May.
Gove went on to serve in Johnson’s government as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Minister for the Cabinet Office during COVID, and later as Levelling Up Secretary.
Vine revealed that their children bore the brunt of the scandal, with the cocaine revelation following them throughout their school years.
She said: ‘After the story came out and it was all over the newspapers, my son remembers going into school the next day.
‘He sat in class and every other child started sniffing. My son said it was one of his most discombobulating moments.
‘He didn’t know what to do – every time there was an argument in the playground, every time anything happened, they would bring this up.
‘It followed both of the children through school endlessly.
‘Don’t take drugs kids, that’s what I say.’
To listen to the episode in full, featuring Peter Hitchens’s rant about proposed Government ID cards, search for Alas Vine & Hitchens now, wherever you get your podcasts.
