I’m jealous of Michael Gove’s night life. What on earth is happening?

Gove is the unexpected icon of this late summer. My next hangover will be on him, writes Marie Le Conte

Michael Gove was spotted at Pipe, a nightclub in Aberdeen (Emma Hay/Facebook)

Writing about politics for a living often involves wondering what on earth you are doing with your life. From tedious Commons debates going well into the night to spats so silly they make you doubt your faith in democracy, Westminster provides more than its share of low points.

Today, I must admit, has been especially bad. For a start, I am writing this on a bank holiday Monday, while you are all out – I assume – downing shots, snogging strangers, or whatever it is people do on bank holidays. Secondly, I have had to deal, like everyone else, with the video of Michael Gove dancing in Aberdeen.

The story itself is very funny. He turned up in an O’Neills just before closing time and then, when the pub closed and “with a good few shandies in him”, he went upstairs to a club called Pipe. Faced with an entry fee of a fiver, he argued he was the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster so did not need to pay. Once in, “he spent the next hour and a half dancing almost non-stop despite the other, paying patrons often looking to engage him in spirited discussions about his government’s policies”.

I am – and it is unbelievably hard for me to write this – jealous of the nightlife of a cabinet minister. I, Marie Le Conte, just about clinging on to the remnants of my twenties, wish I’d had the night out of 54-year-old Michael Gove.

It isn’t that he went dancing; I have recently done that too. No, what makes me green with envy is that he seemingly managed to have an entirely spontaneous night on the lash. He went for some drinks, clearly did not want the evening to end there, so headed to a pub alone, then somehow found himself dancing away in some random club. Can you remember the last time you did something even remotely as carefree?

Thousands of words have been devoted to our lost spontaneity in the past year and a half. Lockdowns, restrictive rules and ever-changing regulations meant that everything had to be planned, always, and that those plans would often be cancelled at the last minute. We spent much of those 18 months waiting for a time when life would feel normal again; when we would not have to plan every night out like it was a mini-break abroad. In fairness to the government, they did their part; just over a month ago, all restrictions were lifted.

Still, things do not quite feel normal yet. The “pingdemic” could be blamed for a while but even those rules have changed now, so there is no reason for people not to be spontaneous and carefree. Every social group will be different but, from where I stand, it looks like everyone is waiting for someone else to make the first step. Life is normal again, we’ve been told, but it will only feel like it once someone takes it upon themselves to jolt the rest of us into action. Not me though; you first.

I have no idea how or when we will come out of this state of quasi-limbo; I wonder if we need to live through a normal winter again before things feel good again. But then, maybe we do not have to; maybe Michael Gove, recently divorced and strategically boasting about being the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, can show us the way. After all, a good night out does not need to be more than it is; if anything, it is usually at its most needed when everything else feels quite drab and dreary.

Here’s to Gove then; the unexpected icon of this late summer. My next hangover will be on him.