Finally, the Goves flee the Notting Hill set
IT’S goodbye to Michael Gove from the Notting Hill set. The former Justice and Education Secretary — and brief prime ministerial hopeful — has finally sold his North Kensington home, voting with his feet to leave the area.
Gove’s three-bedroom semi, which he shares with his journalist wife Sarah Vine and their children, has sold this week for £1.395 million. It means the Vote Leave co-convener is moving on.
Unusually in London’s housing market, the Goves have had some trouble selling the property. They listed it for £1.35 million in both 2012 and 2014, without any luck, before trying again last year. With prices rising, one might have expected a higher sale. Could it be the Brexit effect?
In any case, the buyer is getting a small piece of history. As the heaving bookcases shown on the estate agent’s website attest, this is where
AS BORIS Johnson and David Cameron supped in New York last night, BoJo’s brother Jo Johnson was at the English National Ballet at Sadler’s Wells. Last week the Universities minister was at the British Museum for the opening of its Gove plotted Britain’s departure from the EU. When Vine told Gove the referendum result on June 24, he uttered the immortal words: “Gosh. I’d better get up”. After his failed bid for PM, Gove returned to the back benches.
Some neighbours will be pleased that Gove is heading to new pastures. He’s known for his regular jogs in the area, with one spotter flustered recently by a pair of fluorescent green microshorts.
Gexit — as no one is calling it — marks the end of an era. In happier times, Gove was at the centre of the Notting Hill set, which includes David Cameron and his wife Samantha. The bruising referendum put an end to the dinner parties.
L ast summer, Gove manned a battlebus promising £350 million a week for the NHS if we left Europe. Perhaps he can repurpose the vehicle as a removals van.
American art show, and we’ve seen him at more arts events than Culture Secretary Karen Bradley lately. A hint to the PM that he’d like to take over the culture brief? But is there enough room for two Johnsons in the Cabinet?