Michael Gove says personal attacks on ex-wife Sarah Vine hurt most in his career

He then asked Gove: “All sorts of things have happened to you in the course of your political career. If you had to identify one really personal thing that hurt, what was that?”

Gove recalled how in 2016, Vine accidentally sent a private email – meant to be read by him and his close advisors – to a member of the public, who leaked it to the press.

In the email, Vine had advised her husband to get assurances from Johnson “otherwise you cannot guarantee your support” for his leadership bid.

Two days later, Johnson unexpectedly withdrew, after Gove made a surprise attempt to become leader of the Conservative Party.

Gove said his ex-wife, “whom I still love very much”, was “a strong woman” and disputed the comparison to Lady Macbeth.

Gove said: “It’s always fine if you’re being attacked on ground where you think, yeah, I’m happy to defend myself.

“But when it’s a misunderstanding and a misunderstanding that affects someone close to you, that’s particularly difficult.”

He added: “It’s when people seek to construct a narrative and they draw someone else in and that person is collateral damage in an attack on you. It hurts so much.”