I was pleased to see pictures of Michael Gove at a nightclub in Aberdeen last weekend. According to press reports, he barrelled into a pub in the city centre at around 1.15 a.m. on Sunday, and when last orders were called he was persuaded by fellow revellers to accompany them to a nightclub called Pipe, where he spent the next hour dancing energetically to loud music.
‘I am almost sure he was by himself,’ said Emma Lament, a singer who had performed an acoustic set earlier in the pub and revealed a ‘merry’ Mr Gove had ‘rocked up’ before closing time. ‘He really was enjoying himself. I don’t think he left the dance floor the whole time I was there.’
Michael once entertained dinner party guests at my house by extemporising a rap song about my efforts to set up England’s first free school
Some prudes have tut-tutted that this isn’t an ‘appropriate’ way for the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to behave, but why ever not? The newly single MP is perfectly entitled to go clubbing from time to time, particularly when visiting his home town on an August bank holiday weekend. So what if he was ‘merry’? I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve ended up at some dodgy watering hole to carry on drinking after the pubs have closed. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Another reason to welcome this behaviour is that it suggests Gove has changed his mind about the need for nightclubs, bars and restaurants to introduce vaccine passports. Scotland, after all, is experiencing a record number of coronavirus cases following the reopening of schools a few weeks ago, yet the minister was perfectly happy to visit several hospitality venues in Aberdeen without having to certify his Covid status.
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