Michael Gove refuses to say if Murdoch sat in on Trump interview

Michael Gove has refused to say whether Rupert Murdoch sat in on his interview with Donald Trump, but admitted it had been a mistake for him to enter the race to become prime minister.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Christian Today website, the former cabinet minister also said he had not spoken to David Cameron since the Brexit referendum, though he has been in touch with Boris Johnson, whose Tory leadership bid was scuppered by Gove announcing his own candidacy.

Gove’s flow of answers only dried up when he was asked about reports that Murdoch was present when he interviewed Trump for the Times, although Gove did indicate it could have been the case.

“The best thing to say I think, in fairness is, um, in securing the interview, I think the fact that it was the Times newspaper and the fact that we had the – what’s the word ... I think it’s probably better for me not to go into how the interview arose or how it came about but I think it’s entirely fair for people to make a set of conclusions or assumptions about that,” he said, somewhat cryptically.

Gove admitted he made an error in suddenly challenging for the Conservative leadership after Cameron stepped down in the wake of the Brexit vote, having previously backed Johnson for the role.

“With the benefit of hindsight, I should have not been so quick to say that I was going to support Boris in the first place and probably should never have run myself,” he said.

Gove explained he “hadn’t anticipated on running” but began to have doubts about whether Johnson was the best person to lead the Brexit process.

“A number of things had happened which had shaken my confidence in Boris’s candidacy – not fundamentally altered my view of him as a good person – but had shaken my confidence that he was the right person to be prime minister at that time,” Gove said.

The subsequent elevation of Theresa May to become prime minister was “probably the right result for the country”, he added.

Gove had previously been close to both Cameron and Johnson, but the relationships were wrecked by his decision to stand for leader. While saying he has since spoken to Johnson, of Cameron he said: “The opportunity hasn’t arisen.”

Discussing his Christian faith, Gove said: “I am a sinner and I know it profoundly.”

Gove’s role in gaining the first post-election interview with Trump for the British media raised questions he could consider leaving politics for a full-time return to journalism.

While saying he wants to remain as an MP – “I think I’ll stay in parliament for as long as people will have me” – Gove said he could potentially consider a future elsewhere.

Saying he would not want to be editor of the Times, Gove added: “I would never want to tempt fate or anything like it – there are certain things that could happen which would mean that I might want to leave parliament, but no, I am concentrating at the moment on, certainly writing – I love writing – but operating as an MP.”

While the chat with Trump was attacked by some as going easy on the US president, in the Christian Today interview Gove criticised the ban on travellers from Muslim-majority countries, and predicted Trump could even quit before his full term ends.

Calling Trump “clearly narcissistic”, Gove said: “My hunch is that he will see through this term and then he will lose the next election. Knowing that he might lose, he might find some means of quitting while he thinks he is ahead, though I suspect that his ego will mean he will both want to see what he can do in office and he will believe that he can prevail against whoever the Democrat opponent is.”