Oxford vice-chancellor ‘embarrassed’ to have Michael Gove as alumnus

Prof Louise Richardson’s jibe linked to minister’s dismissal of experts during Brexit campaign

The vice-chancellor of Oxford University has admitted she is “embarrassed” that Michael Gove once studied at the institution, on account of remarks the politician made about “experts” in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Mr Gove, then the justice secretary, was largely slated when he claimed – three weeks before Britain voted to leave the EU – that “people in this country have had enough of experts”, after being asked by a Sky News journalist to name a single economist who backed the divorce.

The remark was considered controversial enough that a pair of academics from the University of Sheffield spent years conducting research into its validity. Dr Katharine Dommett and Dr Warren Pearce’s paper, published in the Public Understanding of Science journal in 2019, ultimately found that there was “insufficient evidence to support” what Mr Gove had said.

Revisiting the incident on Wednesday, Professor Louise Richardson, Oxford’s vice-chancellor, said the development of Covid-19 vaccines proved the exact opposite around the public’s opinion of experts was true.

Speaking on a panel at Times Higher Education (THE)’s World Academic Summit, Prof Richardson said: “Michael Gove, the British cabinet minister, who I am embarrassed to confess we educated, famously said after it was pointed out to him by a journalist that all the experts opposed Brexit, he said: ‘Oh we’ve had enough of experts.’

“With the [Covid] vaccine, it seems like the public can’t get enough of experts. Many of our scientists have become household names.

“We have demonstrated through the vaccine work and the development of therapeutics and so on just how much universities can contribute and that’s enormously helpful to our cause.”

Her comments came on the same night that the University of Oxford’s Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, Dr Catherine Green, and the entire team behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine won the Hero award at GQ magazine’s annual Men of the Year Awards 2021.

Mr Gove, now the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, studied English at Oxford’s Lady Margaret Hall from 1985-88, during which time he joined the Conservative Party and was elected president of the Oxford Union debating society.

He is yet to comment on the remarks made by his alma mater, which was recently named the first university ever to hold the No 1 position in an international league table for six years in a row.

Prof Richardson, who spoke at THE’s event alongside other vice-chancellors from around the world, also argued that universities need more “ideological diversity” and controversial debate to avoid “losing the public argument” over whether they are out of touch.

She warned that “culture wars” and the perception that universities were “bastions of snowflakes” were “deliberately being fanned” by sections of the media and some politicians.

“Increasingly people are seeing that they haven’t gone to university and yet their taxes are paying for these utterly overprivileged students who want all kinds of protections that they never had and I think we have to take this seriously.

“We need to teach our students how to engage civilly in reasoned debate with people with whom we disagree powerfully because, unless we do that, we are going to lose the public argument.”

Meanwhile, Mr Gove faced further embarrassment this week after footage surfaced of him dancing in his suit at an Aberdeen nightclub over the weekend.

The clip – which shows the Cabinet Office minister partying at the Bohemia nightclub to techno music – quickly went viral, and was later edited into a scene from the popular Nineties film Trainspotting.

The University of Oxford has been approached for comment about Prof Richardson’s remarks.