Michael Gove reacts to ex-wife's comments as she claims 'everyone thinks he's gay'

Former politician Michael Gove has reacted to ex-wife Sarah Vine's comments about him and their relationship, following her recent claims that "everyone's always thought Michael was gay". Sarah, 58, opens up about her 21-year marriage and its downfall in her book How Not To Be A Political Wife, which came out earlier this year.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain today, Michael Gove, 57, was asked by presenter Ed Balls how he felt about his "mixed write-up" in the book after she wrote about how Brexit was responsible for their divorce.

"I think that's probably fair," Michael said. "I think that it's in the nature of Sarah's writing that she writes without fear or favour."

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He added: "Sarah very kindly sent me a copy of the book before it was published and said, 'Is there anything in it that you really object to?' and I thought, 'I'm not going to be a censor.'

"There are some bits in it that inevitably any husband or any friend of Sarah's will read and their eyes will be out on stalks but it's her voice."

When asked whether he would do anything different after reading her criticism about their marriage, Michael said: "I think the most important thing is to spend as much time as possible, more time being present with your family."

The ex Conservative politician admitted that he would often spend "an extra half hour" perfecting an argument or convincing someone to back what he was doing, when he should have been with his family.

"It's a half hour that's away from your wife and your children."

It comes just weeks after Sarah opened up about rumours around her ex-husband's sexuality while appearing on Best's Suddenly Single podcast.

“There were always rumours about Michael’s sexuality," she said. "When I went on the skiing holiday [where she met him], one of the senior executives said, ‘oh Michael, he’s lovely but he’s gay’. That was 30 years ago.

"Everyone’s always thought Michael was gay. I married him. Maybe I’m just deluded, but from all my evidence – two children! – even if he was gay … It wouldn’t bother me.

"If he’d said I need to get divorced because I’m gay that wouldn’t have upset me. I think people need to be their authentic self, and if that’s who you are then that’s who you should be.”

She added that they chose to separate before the Covid pandemic and that while politics had "done some damage", it was Brexit that was the final straw.

"The fall out was incredibly toxic and personal. People on the Remain side were so vicious. I just wanted to run away from the whole thing and Michael had this desire to try and make it right.

"After Theresa May took over, she fired him, and there was a period when he wasn’t a front-line politician and that was quite good. I felt he was coming back, because you do lose them to politics, and then she rang him and said did he want to be Environment Secretary, and he went back in. That’s when I thought, we really don’t want the same thing anymore.”

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