Gove: I took cocaine on several occasions
MICHAEL GOVE has confessed to taking cocaine as he became the latest Tory leadership contender to admit to using class A drugs.
The Environment Secretary broke the law by taking cocaine on “several occasions at social events” when he was a journalist in his 30s.
He said: “I did take drugs. It is something I deeply regret. Drugs damage lives. They are dangerous, and it was a mistake. I look back and think, ‘I wish I hadn’t done that.’”
Mr Gove, 51, said he did not believe past transgressions should prevent him becoming prime minister, adding: “It was 20 years ago, and yes, it was a mistake. But I don’t believe that past mistakes disqualify you.”
As he prepares to launch his formal leadership bid next week, his admission is likely to start a debate about whether class A drug use should have a bearing on candidates’ suitability to lead the country.
A new book about Mr Gove claims that he also believes he did a “public service” by undermining his Vote Leave co-leader Boris Johnson during the 2016 Tory leadership contest. Mr Gove made the confession to the
Daily Mail on the day it began serialising a biography of him by political journalist Owen Bennett, which discloses his drug-taking.
He is the latest of the 11 current candidates for the Tory leadership to admit to taking drugs.
Mr Johnson, the front-runner, admitted in an interview 11 years ago that he had taken cocaine as a 19-year-old and had smoked “dope” before that.
Rory Stewart, the International Development Secretary, has admitted smoking raw opium during a trek across Iran; Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, admitted to drinking a cannabis lassi in India, and Dominic Raab has admitted smoking marijuana when he was younger.
Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, who is also running for the Tory leadership, has promised to crack down on middle-class cocaine users who are fuelling violent crime by creating a market for the illegal drug.
The book Michael Gove: A Man in a
Hurry says he admitted his past cocaine use to his advisers when he was being “put through his paces” in the 2016 Tory leadership contest.
As his aides anticipated questions he might be asked, he was asked if he had ever taken drugs, and replied: “Yes, cocaine.” He was told not to own up but to stick to the line used by David Cameron that politicians were entitled to a private life before entering politics.
Mr Gove told the Daily Mail he had taken drugs about 20 years ago when he worked as a journalist and before he was married. He became an MP in 2005 and education secretary in 2010.
“The book is correct,” he said. “I did take drugs. It will be for my colleagues in Parliament and members of the Conservative Party to decide now if I should be leader. I think all politicians have lives before politics.
“Certainly when I was working as a journalist, I didn’t imagine I would go into politics or public service. I didn’t act with an eye to that.”
Arguably more damaging to Mr Gove is the revelation that he believes he did a “public service” by running against Mr Johnson in the 2016 contest, which led to both pulling out and paving the way for Theresa May’s premiership.
Many Tories have not forgiven Mr Gove for what he did, but in a separate interview with the Conservative Home website, he dismissed claims that he could not become Tory leader because of the way he “knifed” Mr Johnson.
He refused to say he would give Mr Johnson a Cabinet job if he becomes prime minister.