Tory hopeful Michael Gove admitted taking cocaine

Michael Gove last night admitted taking cocaine on ‘several social occasions’. The Tory leadership candidate said he used the banned substance when he was younger and deeply regrets it.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘I took drugs on several occasions at social events more than 20 years ago. At the time I was a young journalist. It was a mistake. I look back and I think, I wish I hadn’t done that.’

Mr Gove, 51, insisted his past mistakes should not be held against him as he battles to replace Theresa May as prime minister. She stepped down as Tory leader yesterday.

‘It was 20 years ago and yes, it was a mistake,’ he said. ‘But I don’t believe that past mistakes disqualify you.’

He made his admission ahead of publication of a book about him by political journalist Owen Bennett – extracts of which are exclusively published in today’s Mail. 

The book – Michael Gove: A Man in a Hurry – says the Environment Secretary owned up to having used cocaine when he was being ‘put through his paces’ by advisers in the 2016 Tory leadership contest.

The startling admission came when he and the aides were trying to anticipate what questions he would face from the media.

An inside source said Mr Gove said ‘Yes, cocaine’ when asked if he had ever taken drugs.

‘Gove was instructed not to give that answer in public, and told to fall back on the words David Cameron had used when he was running for leader, namely that politicians are entitled to a private life before entering politics,’ the book says.

In the event Mr Gove was never asked the question. Despite forcing Boris Johnson to pull out of the contest, Mr Gove withdrew after being beaten by Mrs May in the second round.

The drugs revelation comes on the eve of the first round in the Tory leadership ballot of MPs due to take place on Thursday. Many Tories forecast they will whittle the candidates down to a Gove versus Johnson rematch. The winner is picked by Conservative grassroots members. Mr Bennett’s book, which is likely to electrify the Tory leadership race, also reveals:

• How Mr Gove believes he did a ‘public service’ by dramatically ‘knifing’ Mr Johnson during the 2016 contest;
• That he was warned he was duty-bound to back Brexit to avoid being forever seen as a ‘stooge’ of his friend Mr Cameron, who saw him merely as a ‘court jester’;
• That Mr Cameron still considers Mr Gove ‘dead to me’ because of his perceived betrayal over Brexit;
• How Mr Gove adored ‘winding up’ Mrs May when she was home secretary because of clashes between them.

Last night Mr Gove told the 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 entered government as education secretary in 2010.

‘The book is correct,’ he said. ‘I did take drugs. It is something I deeply regret. Drugs damage lives. They are dangerous and it was a mistake.’

He added: ‘Obviously 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.’

Mr Johnson has already disclosed he has used cocaine. He admitted it in the run-up to the London mayoral election in 2008.

Mr Cameron was punished at Eton for using cannabis.

Another Tory leadership candidate, Rory Stewart, has admitted smoking opium. The International Development Secretary, apologised last week for taking the class A drug while at a wedding in Iran 15 years ago.

Source – DailyMail