Michael Gove has been taking his smoking breaks in a special hut built for him on the roof of his departmental office, after he was stalked by a terrorist and heckled in the street. The taxpayer-funded smoking den was built specifically for Gove shortly after he was appointed levelling up secretary in October 2021 and he was heckled by anti-lockdown protesters. Gove faced a number of security threats in early 2021, including being targeted by Sir David Amess’s killer, Ali Harbi Ali, who visited his home on four occasions. In the same year, the minister was the subject of graffiti on a Belfast wall amid rising tensions in Northern Ireland over the Brexit trade deal. The message included Gove’s name and an address above the words: “We don’t forget, we don’t forgive.” Insiders insist police advised the cabinet minister to find somewhere private to take his smoking breaks within the levelling up department office because a secure area within the building did not exist. The hut was not constructed at Gove’s request. The Guardian understands Gove was able to smoke in a secure area at the back of the Cabinet Office building, where he worked as the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster for two years from 2019 until 2021. Weeks after taking up the levelling up secretary role in 2021, he was heckled by anti-lockdown protesters who shouted obscenities at him as he walked alone in Westminster towards his office. Gove was filmed strolling with a coffee in one hand and a red folder in the other, but did not engage with the group. He was then accosted by people who surrounded him and hurled insults including “absolute wanker” and “fucking idiot”. One person pointed a camera in his face and asked him: “How do you justify the illegal lockdown being pushed on this country?” while another appeared to shout “arrest Michael Gove”. The incident came amid heightened concerns over the security of MPs after the fatal stabbing of Amess.
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “It is a longstanding policy not to comment on the protective security arrangements for the secretary of state or ministers.” Gove, 55, signalled his support for banning young people from smoking last year. He told Times Radio that he was “open-minded” about stopping everyone below a certain age from ever buying cigarettes. “We do need to take steps to improve public health,” Gove said. “I do think that enlightened public health measures which are backed by strong scientific evidence, which follow the lead of the doctors, the clinicians – we should look seriously at them.”