Michael Gove: Leaked Tapes

I apologise, I was wrong about the above. He was in his final year at Oxford, it still doesn't excuse his remarks though.

Grumppa He was not an undergraduate at the time of this speech. He was a journalist and an invited speaker.

In the 1987 extracts he certainly thought he was being funny. They were Oxbridge Union debates, where people like Gove and Johnson show off to their peers. Having been a keen debater at school, I went to one debate in my first term, and never bothered to go back.

One of the motions, about women being on top, was clearly designed to provide an evening of double entendres. Typical undergraduate humour; the only passage I found totally repellent was the one about Leon Brittan.

Yes Jane, he was filmed throwing shapes on a dance floor, wearing a suit. Having a great time by the looks of it too. Can you imagine being his teenage child? Cringe Dad.

What an arxx

Michael Gove is getting divorced isn't he? I wondered if that was why he was lying low...that said wasn't he photographed at a rave recently?

Yes Vegansrock he is keeping a very low profile indeed, which makes me suspicious. Meanwhile, the idiotic Truss, Shapps and Williamson run amok......but perhaps this is part of a cunning plan to make everyone else look smart. Williamson got off lightly on his Marcus Rashford gaff I thought, mainly due to the polite good humour of the two sportsmen involved. It is said that Liz Truss is presently involved in negotiations with the new Taliban administration to sell them our surplus pork. I would like to say this is a joke, but one never knows with these fools.

He’s keeping a low political profile at the moment isn’t he? we hardly hear anything from him and he’s never wheeled out as a spokesperson for the government even though he’s a lot brighter than some of the dimwits like Grant Shapps and Liz Truss who appear as thick as mince when they are under pressure. What’s Matt Hancock up to? Last I heard of him he was in a posh hotel with his lady friend - don’t know how they afford it with all that child maintenance and divorce and lower incomes.

I agree that, given the tone of voice, he thinks he’s being funny.

I do believe people can change for the better but I think they have to hold themselves accountable for misdeeds and prove a change to be forgiven... Neither of which this man has done so no, he should not be in any responsible leadership role in a diverse country where equal rights are valued.

Yes, I think he thought he was being amusing and witty but unfortunately, if these are genuine unedited tapes, then they come across as just offensive.

He was a couple of months old when he was adopted, I'm not an expert in these things but I don't think being a objectionable git has anything to do with what his biological background is.

I too think that he thought he was being "funny." Or worse, "clever".

It has to be said, in his defence takes deep breath that these soundbites are carefully edited to show him at his worst, and I suspect that if the entire recording was heard, the context would make them come across differently. This does not detract from the fact they have been released in an edited way to show him at his worst. I imagine that whoever is behind this is desperately trying to find some sort of sex scandal about him, but if that person is reading this, can I please request that they are not released for public viewing not envy

He was an adopted child, so we don’t actually know his origins. We only know his upbringing. Interesting ‘nature versus nurture’ question there.

His comments are so extreme that I had to wonder if they were genuine.

I like his accent, not keen on anything else about him.

I have an Aberdeenshire voice, a central Scotland voice and a "rest of the world" voice. I want everybody to like me

I certainly don't think he's one of us - see my posts above! A Robert Gordon's boy....

Yes, Alegrias1, I could understand it if he spoke Doric as a native, but he doesn't, and even when he's in Scotland his accent isn't strong. It's just that I get the feeling that he wants to be thought respectable (!!) down south, but show that he's "one of us" up here. Doesn't work!

Somebody is out to scupper Gove's career that's for sure. It could be revenge for the backstabbing of Johnson a few years back, it could be a cabal of backbenchers stopping him from being in place as Cummings man with DC pulling the strings. But, and this is a huge but, the morality of this government leaves a great deal to be desired so maybe this isn't quite enough to finish him.

Wheniwasyourage

It's interesting that Michael Gove's Scottish accent appears when he is in, or speaking to, Scotland and more or less disappears when he is in London. Just saying. Can't stand the man.

I find that's the least annoying thing about him . As an Aberdeenshire quine myself, I know that the accent/dialect can be impenetrable so many of us are "bilingual".

I really think that since this has all come up again, Gove needs to resign or be removed from his Cabinet post.

Given that this was some time ago, I doubt if he'll come under pressure to resign - particularly as he's answerable to a PM who gave the address of a journalist to Darius Guppy knowing that was planning to have him beaten-up.

It's interesting that Michael Gove's Scottish accent appears when he is in, or speaking to, Scotland and more or less disappears when he is in London. Just saying. Can't stand the man.

I am in Aberdeen, and wrote freelance for the newspapers here where MG was a journalist, so most of this is not new news to me.

I really think that since this has all come up again, Gove needs to resign or be removed from his Cabinet post.

It shouldn't, but timing could see Gove survive, given Boris is focussing on vaccines for children, and boosters for adults, and has also just lost his Mother. Time will tell.

Thank goodness it's not a sex tape!

Callistemon

Listened to it now


However,
As for the comment about Northerners
I did get the irony in that statement about Mrs Thatcher and the North.

What was the irony Callistemon the fact that Gove is one?

Callistemon

^Gove had aspirations to be a stand up comedian I believe^.
He was a comic actor before he became a politician, I believe, FannyC.

I haven't listened (yet) but I certainly wouldn't label him as a posh boy whatever else I may think about him.

Father was a business owner.
Attended very posh private school in Aberdeen.
Studied at Oxford.

Definitely a posh boy. It's a state of mind.

Listened to it now


However,
As for the comment about Northerners
I did get the irony in that statement about Mrs Thatcher and the North.