M.Gove regrets using cocaine

Pep

So Michael Gove regrets having snorted cocaine in his youth.
This comes after Obama, Cameron, Johnson ...
Come one, these are politicians. They value PR above all and have so little care for honesty. Is it just me thinking maybe it's just a PR move to make himself looking more "normal", perhaps he never used drugs and just made up a story to be more likable? It helps when you have rich parents and risk appearing disconnected from people.

Your thoughts?

darkhairedlord

Its owning the narrative. Saves having a Frank bough expose sometime in the next few weeks.

imposter2.0

I'd be more wary of any politician that said they hadn't done drugs at some point...

sungod

imo simply getting the dirt out early, by the time the voting starts it'll have been normalised

plus a number of other runners for tory leader have used drugs, including johnson, it's early enough for this to be (re-)publicised, so that gove can't be singled out

if it were to have emerged close to the vote, it'd be more likely to damage him

anyway, it's evident that being a liar, or committing criminal offences, is not a problem for the tory party, perhaps it's what they look for in a leader

PhilipPirrip

Such faux contrition, once someone realises a past action may affect future opportunities , is morally bankrupt.

But then this is Michael Gove who used public money to fight FOI requests so morally bankrupt is par for the course.

surfercyclist

Yep, it's a PR move.

Jez mon

A PR move to make himself more likeable? Nah, I imagine most of the Conservative membership are of the opinion that drugs are the devil. He's merely taken the chance to reveal it before someone else revealed it for him.

crispybug2

It’s a somewhat unlikely source but George W Bush came up one of the wisest and best observed quotes about the shite you get up to in your younger days


“When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible!”

slowmart

inept, incapable and simply not up the the job are not part of the conversation?

But I snorted cocaine twenty years ago?

Snorting coke off a whores ar5e at least implies imagination and a certain level of creativity which seems to be lacking from Goves apologetic narrative

hadoken

Pep wrote:

So Michael Gove regrets having snorted cocaine in his youth.
This comes after Obama, Cameron, Johnson ...
Come one, these are politicians. They value PR above all and have so little care for honesty. Is it just me thinking maybe it's just a PR move to make himself looking more "normal", perhaps he never used drugs and just made up a story to be more likable? It helps when you have rich parents and risk appearing disconnected from people.

Your thoughts?

Gove is 52 years old, he did this 20 years ago which made him 32 years old, hardly youth! If he didn't know right from wrong in his thirties he's got no hope!!

Stevo_666

I wonder when we'll reach the point on Cake Stop where the only threads are political ones? Maybe there's one for this already?
https://forum.bikeradar.com/viewtopic.php?t=13100964&start=460

rick_chasey

So when it’s a posh boy it’s endearing and when it’s a poor man it’s a societal problem, right?

What’s his voting record on drugs?

monkimark

I don't really care that he took cocaine but i do care that he was justice secretary in a system that puts people in jail for 7 years for possession of cocaine yet thinks it shouldn't affect his chances of running the country.

Pep

Double standards.
Anyone surprised?

DeVlaeminck

Who has served 7 years for possession of cocaine?

Stevo_666

Rick Chasey wrote:

So when it’s a posh boy it’s endearing and when it’s a poor man it’s a societal problem, right?

What’s his voting record on drugs?

Want some ketchup with your chip?

And missing the point yet again. I was saying there was already a thread for that sort of thing.

webboo

If he’d been caught in possession of Cocaine. He wouldn’t be able to get a job as a teacher, nurse, doctor, police officer, solicitor and a few more but it’s ok for him to become Prime Minister.

pblakeney

Let's be clear on one simple fact. He does not regret taking cocaine, as he is claiming or it wouldn't have taken 20 years. He regrets that it has become public knowledge that he took cocaine. Different.

chris_bass

PBlakeney wrote:

Let's be clear on one simple fact. He does not regret taking cocaine, as he is claiming or it wouldn't have taken 20 years. He regrets that it has become public knowledge that he took cocaine. Different.

Can you not regret anything that isn't public knowledge with making it public? Why can't it be both?

I'm not saying he does or doesn't but you can't say he doesn't regret something because he didn't tell the public! I regret stuff I've not told anyone about let alone the national press!!

DeVlaeminck

Well who knows why he regrets taking it. Maybe he now thinks the enjoyment was not worth it given the subsequent embarrassment in his political career, maybe he has a greater awareness of the harm the cocaine trade does, who knows.

Ultimately who cares. If teachers are banned from teaching or doctors from practising medicine because of a 20 year old conviction for possession then more fool us for wasting their training when there is a shortage of both.

Personally I'm tranquil about a future PM having taken drugs, I've taken them myself (not for many years), everybody in my social circle did and i would think most contributing to this forum have at some time on same scale too. I'm not an advocate of cocaine use at all, I've never taken any either but I mean come on who really cares.

pblakeney

Chris Bass wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

Let's be clear on one simple fact. He does not regret taking cocaine, as he is claiming or it wouldn't have taken 20 years. He regrets that it has become public knowledge that he took cocaine. Different.

Can you not regret anything that isn't public knowledge with making it public? Why can't it be both?

I'm not saying he does or doesn't but you can't say he doesn't regret something because he didn't tell the public! I regret stuff I've not told anyone about let alone the national press!!

You can be more generous than me if you wish. I see other motives, and hypocrisies.

"The environment secretary said he believed the "mistake" should not be held against him in his bid to become prime minister."

kajjal

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Well who knows why he regrets taking it. Maybe he now thinks the enjoyment was not worth it given the subsequent embarrassment in his political career, maybe he has a greater awareness of the harm the cocaine trade does, who knows.

Ultimately who cares. If teachers are banned from teaching or doctors from practising medicine because of a 20 year old conviction for possession then more fool us for wasting their training when there is a shortage of both.

Personally I'm tranquil about a future PM having taken drugs, I've taken them myself (not for many years), everybody in my social circle did and i would think most contributing to this forum have at some time on same scale too. I'm not an advocate of cocaine use at all, I've never taken any either but I mean come on who really cares.

Who cares ?

The people being terrorised by the organised crime operations behind its production and distribution, the health care professionals & law enforcement having to deal with it, the addicts / users who’s families are impacted by this and also people through no fault of their own by the actions of people under the influence of drugs.

rjsterry

PBlakeney wrote:

Chris Bass wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

Let's be clear on one simple fact. He does not regret taking cocaine, as he is claiming or it wouldn't have taken 20 years. He regrets that it has become public knowledge that he took cocaine. Different.

Can you not regret anything that isn't public knowledge with making it public? Why can't it be both?

I'm not saying he does or doesn't but you can't say he doesn't regret something because he didn't tell the public! I regret stuff I've not told anyone about let alone the national press!!

You can be more generous than me if you wish. I see other motives, and hypocrisies.

"The environment secretary said he believed the "mistake" should not be held against him in his bid to become prime minister."

He could certainly expand on why he now regrets doing it and why he thinks it shouldn't now hold him back if he wants that to be a more believable narrative. If that were to be reflected in a change of direction on drug policy as part of his pitch to be PM, he might have fewer accusations of hypocrisy.

robert88

He's only trying to compete with Monsieur Johnston.

Johnson admits using cocaine as a teenager

It appears it was not penetrative as he sneezed at the crucial moment.

sungod

there's also the grass, don't recall any claim that johnson didn't inhale that

Matthewfalle

posh drug for a posh Tory fascist. sums it up really.

we believe he only 'fessed up to it now because it was coming out in a book next week/week after anyhow.

and he is 2nd in the leadership polls after johnson ......


blimey - may, johnson, gove ...... is this really the best they have?

#hypocrit
#fascist
#Toriesarefascists

dowtcha

I used to take alot of class A drugs in my 20's and 30's. I thought that was an expensive hobby till I took up cycling.

Matthewfalle

Dowtcha wrote:

I used to take alot of class A drugs in my 20's and 30's. I thought that was an expensive hobby till I took up cycling.

frisbee

At least he didn't do anything truly unforgivable, like drink a Mojito on a train.

chris_bass

Matthewfalle wrote:

posh drug for a posh Tory fascist. sums it up really.

we believe he only 'fessed up to it now because it was coming out in a book next week/week after anyhow.

and he is 2nd in the leadership polls after johnson ......


blimey - may, johnson, gove ...... is this really the best they have?

#hypocrit
#fascist
#Toriesarefascists

Posh drug? Hardly, probably the 2nd most common (or should that be house of common?) these days, maybe pushed into 3rd by e/mdma!

#whocares

john80

To be honest at least give has been mashed out his tits. May apparently ran through a field of wheat. I can't imagine a childhood so pathetic as this.