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”.