“There is a slam-dunk case for extending foreign language teaching to children aged five. Just as some people have taken a perverse pride in not understanding mathematics, so we have taken a perverse pride in the fact that we do not speak foreign languages, and we just need to speak louder in English.”

British politician and journalist

Michael Andrew Gove, Baron Gove, is a British politician and journalist. He has sat in the House of Lords since 2025, and before that represented Surrey Heath in the House of Commons from 2005 to 2024. He is known for his senior roles in Conservative governments and for his long public career in politics and the media. Between 2010 and 2024, Gove held senior Cabinet posts under Conservative governments. He was a prominent figure in the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union, and he twice ran for the Conservative leadership. He also returned to the backbenches twice, and from 2024 he has served as editor of The Spectator. Media coverage often described him as Boris Johnson’s de facto deputy prime minister.