David Cameron offers olive branch to Michael Gove in LBC interview

19 September 2019, 08:53

Former Prime Minister David Cameron has offered an olive branch to Michael Gove saying ‘a lot of water has flown under the bridge’ since the pair’s public fallout over Brexit.

In an interview with LBC Mr Cameron suggested he was ready to make amends with Mr Gove, following a piece by Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine in which she expressed sadness over the breakdown in friendship between their two families.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL INTERVIEW

Mr Cameron said: “"I read her [Sarah Vine's] article actually last night. We both actually thought it was incredibly sensitive and well written and rather emotional piece.

"Look, over time I hope that, a lot of water has flown under the bridge, but it just was very difficult at the time of the referendum.

"We were very close, and the children were friends and all the rest of it. Who knows, a lot of water has flown under the bridge, as I say. Would they want to rekindle their friendship?

"I want to try. I think the difficulty is just been that, Michael was a very, very close member of the team. He was so central to my thinking on education reform and other things, and so watching what happened next was very painful and I did in some ways thought he’d become quite a different person in all of it. But as I say, life goes on."

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Cameron also dismisses an attack on him by the Guardian.

The newspaper claimed he had suffered only 'privileged pain' over the death of his disabled son Ivan.

It said in an editorial: "Mr Cameron has known pain and failure in his life but it has always been limited failure and privileged pain.

"His experience of the NHS, which looked after his severely disabled son, has been that of the better functioning and better funded parts of the system."

The newspaper issued an apology and its editor sent an apology directly to Mr Cameron, he revealed.

Mr Cameron said: 'There is no privilege in holding your eldest-born child in your arms as their life drains away. Death knows no privilege.

"So I, from the little I saw of it, I couldn't understand what they were trying to say, but fortunately it has been deleted and apologised for, so I think we can leave it there.'