Media playback is unsupported on your device
Michael Gove says he made a “profound mistake” by using cocaine 20 years ago – but has denied accusations he was a hypocrite.
The Tory leadership hopeful previously admitted taking the class A drug several times when he was a journalist.
Speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, he said: “I do have a profound sense of regret about it all and I am very, very aware of the damage that drugs do.”
Mr Gove acknowledged he was “fortunate” not to have gone to prison.
“I deeply regret the mistake that I made,” the environment secretary added, denying he had ever had a drug “habit”.
A Times article Mr Gove wrote in 1999 – around the time he admits having taken the drug – has been republished.
In it he criticised “middle class professionals” who took drugs – leading to headlines calling him a “hypocrite”.
But speaking on Marr on Sunday morning, Mr Gove denied that amounted to hypocrisy.
“I think anyone can read the article and make their own minds up,” he said. “The point that I made in the article is that if any of us lapse sometimes from standards that we uphold, that is human.
“The thing to do is not necessarily then to say that the standards should be lowered. It should be to reflect on the lapse and to seek to do better in the future.”
‘No one asked’
When asked if he had declared his drug use on his Esta form for entry into the US, under the visa waiver scheme, he replied: “I don’t believe that I have ever, on any occasion, failed to tell the truth about this when asked directly.”
He added: “I think it is the case that if I were elected as the prime minister of this country then of course it would be the case that I would be able to go to the United States.”
And asked if he had declared his drug before becoming a minister, Mr Gove replied: “No one asked. The question was never raised.”
Earlier in the day, Home Secretary Sajid Javid – a leadership rival to Mr Gove – told Sky News he did not want “to pass judgment on fellow candidates”.
But he added: “It doesn’t matter if you are middle class or not – anyone who takes class A drugs, they need to think about that supply chain that comes from Colombia, let’s say, to Chelsea and the number of lives that are destroyed along the way.”
Image copyright
PA
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he did not want to pass judgement on his colleagues
Mr Gove, who served as justice secretary from 2015-16, is one of 11 Tory MPs who have said they intend to stand in the contest to replace Theresa May, with the winner expected to be announced in late July.
International Development Secretary Rory Stewart, who is one of those standing against him, has already apologised for smoking opium – a class A drug in the UK – at a wedding in Iran 15 years ago.
Boris Johnson, the favourite to succeed Mrs May as Conservative leader, was asked about claims he had taken cocaine at university by Marie Claire magazine in 2008.
He replied: “That was when I was 19.”
In an appearance on Have I Got News For You in 2005, he admitted being given the drug but suggested he had not actually taken it, saying: “I think I was once given cocaine but I sneezed and so it did not go up my nose. In fact, I may have been doing icing sugar.”
Image copyright
AFP
Andrea Leadsom said she “smoked weed at university”
Andrea Leadsom told the Independent that she “smoked weed at university” but had “never smoked it again since”.
On Saturday, Dominic Raab, who has previously admitted smoking cannabis, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think Michael has set out that he made a mistake.
“It was a long time ago, people will judge it as it is but I do believe in a second chance society.”
And Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt – another candidate – told the Times he had drunk a cannabis lassi while backpacking through India.
Gove "profoundly regrets" cocaine use
0 Comments: