Michael Gove

The Right Honourable Michael Gove was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 24th July 2019. He was also appointed Minister for the Cabinet Office on 13th February 2020.

He was previously Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from June 2017 to July 2019. He was elected Conservative MP for Surrey Heath in 2005.

He is the author of the critically acclaimed CELSIUS 7/7 (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2006).

Michael Gove was born in Edinburgh in 1967 and brought up in Aberdeen. Educated in England and Scotland, in the state and independent sectors, he is passionately committed to raising standards in state schools and helping children from less privileged backgrounds to maximise their potential.

Michael is married to Sarah Vine, a columnist at the Daily Mail, and they have one daughter, Beatrice, and a son, William.

Michael has been a journalist since he left university, working for local and national newspapers, radio and TV. He has reported on issues as diverse as EU corruption in Brussels and the threat to small businesses from red tape as well as championing the victims of crime.

At The Times, Michael worked closely with Frances Lawrence, widow of the murdered headmaster Philip Lawrence, to fight street crime and its causes. Frances’s campaign succeeded in establishing an award scheme for good citizenship among the young and influencing legislation to ban combat knives.

Michael has also appeared regularly on radio and television, as a panellist on Radio Four’s “The Moral Maze” and BBC 2’s “Newsnight Review” and a guest on Channel 4 News, “Any Questions” and “Question Time”.

Michael is a former Chairman of Policy Exchange, a centre-right think-tank which has come up with innovative policies on policing, local government and fighting terrorism. Policy Exchange’s plans to devolve more power over police priorities to local communities has been widely welcomed and compared to the initiatives introduced by Rudi Giuliani which reduced crime in New York.

Michael was first elected in May 2005. He served as Shadow Minister for Housing & Planning and Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools & Families. Following the 2010 General Election, he served as Secretary of State for Education, and was appointed as Chief Whip in 2014. On 10 May 2015, he was appointed as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.

A journalist by profession, he has used his position as a writer for The Times and a broadcaster on the BBC to fight for greater personal freedom, a tougher line on crime, a more dynamic economy, a cleaner environment, stronger defence and a better deal for hard-pressed families.