Exclusive:
The pair stunned diners at London celebrity hotspot J Sheekey, where oysters can cost £79 a dozen, with a small serving of caviar costing £80
Ex-Cabinet minister Michael Gove gets a Sheekey kiss from a woman 25 years his junior at a fancy fish restaurant.
Mr Gove, 57, got close while sharing a meal with glamorous Oxford University lecturer Dr Lola Salem, who is 32.
The pair stunned diners at London celebrity hotspot J Sheekey, where oysters can cost £79 a dozen, with a small serving of caviar costing £80.
A-list fans of the venue include Keira Knightley, Poppy Delevingne, Sienna Miller, the Beckhams, Jude Law, Kate Moss and Bradley Cooper.
Dr Salem is a lecturer in French and music at the university, where she specialises in opera – a hobby of Mr Gove’s, who has become editor of the Spectator mag since stepping away from frontline politics.
Mr Gove and Dr Salem had been spotted together once before, arriving at a party in July.
Dr Salem is a trained singer and former art critic for the IO Gazette, a French newspaper.
According to her profile on the Oriel College website, her research lies in the fields of “opera, performers, and other material conditions related to creativity during the long seventeenth century.”
Mr Gove divorced from former wife and newspaper columnist Sarah Vine in 2022.
He stepped down from Parliament at the General Election, after saying it was time for a “new generation” to lead.
In September, Mr Gove was appointed editor of “Tory bible” The Spectator, after it was taken over by GB News co-owner Sir Paul Marshall, who outbid Rupert Murdoch to pay £100million for the magazine .
Among the Spectator’s former editors is Mr Gove’s former Brexit buddy – turned leadership rival – Boris Johnson.
In a joint statement following their split, Mr Gove and Ms Vine said they remained “close friends.”
Ms Vine denied the split had been prompted by an affair, saying in January 2022 that her ex-husband’s “only mistress was politics”.
She also said their marriage had been put under “strain” by the dramas surrounding Brexit – including the very public row between the couple and David and Samantha Cameron.
“My whole life fell away. I didn’t speak to many close friends. And that was another huge strain on the marriage,” Ms Vine said.
“Marriage can take strain, but it cannot take that much.”
