Background

Michael Andrew Gove was born on August 26, 1967, in Aberdeen as Graeme Andrew Logan. His mother gave him up for adoption at birth and in a couple of months, the boy was adopted by Ernest and Christine Gove. Michael grew up in the Kittybrewster area of the city.

Education

Michael Andrew Gove studied at Sunnybank Primary School and Kittybrewster Primary School. Then, he entered Robert Gordon's College, and after graduation attended Lady Margaret Hall at Oxford University majoring in English.

Career

After graduation, Michael was a journalist at The Daily Telegraph. In a year, he had to come back to Scotland. From 1989 to 1991 Gove worked as a trainee reporter with the Aberdeen Press & Journal newspaper, Scottish and Grampian television. After that, he joined the BBC team in London. While there, Gove stood on the picket line to protest against cuts affecting technical staff at the broadcaster.

In 1995, Michael published the book Michael Portillo: The Future of the Right. It's a biography on the British politician. At the age of thirty-one, Portillo was elected to Parliament in 1984 and the British Cabinet in 1992. Gove describes Portillo’s life, his rise in politics, and his political beliefs and opinions.

In 1996 Gove was invited by The Times to become their leader writer. That gave him a platform for his right-of-center, independent-minded views. Although generally critical of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour government, he strongly backed Blair’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003. In London Gove became close friends with Cameron.

In 2002 Michael Gove co-founded the Policy Exchange think tank, cementing his friendship with young Tories. Eventually, Cameron, the future PM, persuaded Gove to swap journalism for politics and Gove was elected MP for Surrey Heath in 2005.

When in December 2005 Cameron became Prime Minister, he appointed Gove shadow housing minister. In a couple of years, Cameron promoted Gove to the full shadow cabinet, as shadow education secretary. In his new role, Gove set out plans for state schools to apply to be independent "academies," no longer controlled by local government. He also promoted new groups - which could comprise parents, charities, or private companies - to establish new academies. When the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition was formed after the May 2010 general election with Cameron as prime minister, Gove was named education secretary. The Academies Act in July 2010 was one of the first of the new government’s bills to reach the statute book. The act, however, proved controversial, as did his curriculum reforms, which some argued were too rigorous and unrealistic. For instance, five-year-olds were to study fractions. Gove’s relationship with teachers was particularly contentious, and in 2013 several teachers unions passed motions of no confidence concerning his policies.

Cameron had to demote Gove after polls suggested he was unpopular with his parents and appointed him Chief Whip instead. The politician was in that position until May 2015.

After the Conservatives won the 2015 general election, Gove, who had been reelected to the House of Commons, was appointed lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice in Cameron’s new majority government. Gove butted heads with the prime minister, however, as one of the leading spokespeople (along with Boris Johnson) for the "Leave" movement in the campaign for the referendum in June 2016 in which voters decided to remove the United Kingdom from the European Union (commonly known as Brexit).

Cameron was the "Remain" side’s most prominent advocate. In the wake of the vote, Cameron announced his intention to resign, and Johnson looked to become his likely successor. When Gove removed his crucial support from Johnson and decided to become a candidate himself, Johnson withdrew from the race. Gove then came up short in the subsequent five-candidate race to lead the party, and, when the winner of the contest, Theresa May, became Prime Minister in July 2016, she replaced Gove as justice minister with Liz Truss.

However, later Theresa May invited him back to the Cabinet and promoted to the position of Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Because of Gove’s history of opposition to legislation aimed at addressing climate change, environmentalists were outraged by the appointment. In 2019 May announced that she was stepping down after several attempts to pass a Brexit deal failed. Gove launched another bid to become the party’s leader but lost in a crowded contest that saw Johnson emerge victorious.

Gove’s tenure as environment secretary ended in July 2019, and the following year he became minister of the Cabinet Office.

Achievements

• Michael Gove managed to make a brilliant career both in journalism and politics. He entered the Cabinet only five years after becoming MP for Surrey Heath, served as Education Secretary, Chief Whip, Justice Secretary, Environment Secretary, and, finally, became Minister for the Cabinet Office.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Michael Portillo: The Future of the Right

    (The son of a Spanish Republican refugee and a Scottish pr...)

    1995
  • A Blue Tomorrow: New Visions for Modern Conservatives

    (Perhaps seeking to emulate the "compassionate conservatis...)

    2002

Religion

Gove's family worshipped at the Church of Scotland and he remains a committed Christian. As Education Secretary, he came up with a plan to send a Bible to every school.

Politics

In 1983 Michael Gove was a proponent of the Labour Party. However, during the studies at Oxford University, Gove joined the Conservatives. He was a member of the Oxford University Conservative Association and was appointed to the position of secretary of Aberdeen South Young Conservatives.

Views

When Michael Gove worked for the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, he was an advocate of a Swedish-style education voucher system and Swedish-style free schools.

Gove is a proponent of Brexit.

Quotations: "Whatever else I know, I know that if you invest love and care in any individual you can help them to make a difference, to write their own life story, because my parents took a risk on me, not knowing a thing about me."

On Brexit: "The British people voted for change last Thursday. They sent us a clear instruction that they want Britain to leave the European Union and end the supremacy of EU law. They told us to restore democratic control of immigration policy and to spend their money on national priorities such as health, education and science instead of giving it to Brussels. They rejected politics as usual and government as usual. They want and need a new approach to running this country."

Membership

• The National Union of Journalists

Personality

Gove is lauded for his intelligence and decisiveness. By his own admission, he is "nosy by nature."

Interests

• Opera, history

• Music & Bands

  The Smiths, Mumford & Sons

Connections

Michael Gove is married to Sarah Vine. They've been together since 2001 and have a son and a daughter.

Spouse:

Sarah Rosemary Vine

foster father:

Ernest Gove

foster mother:

Christine Gove

Daughter:

Beatrice Gove

Son:

William Gove

Sister:

Angela Gove

friend, colleague:

David Cameron

colleague:

Rupert Murdoch

colleague:

Boris Johnson