Can we throw Michael Gove in prison for his cocaine use?

[AlaskanOilBaron]

I mean seriously, this fella was Justice Secretary- i.e. responsible for sending people to prison for using cocaine - and he's used cocaine?

What a complete twat. He tied himself in a pretzel on Andrew Marr trying to talk his way out of it, how he was 'fortunate' and so on - THAT'S EXACTLY THE POINT. He got lucky because he's white, because he's middle class, and so on -so sod the poor fools who haven't been so lucky?

I do hope this is the end of his career.

If we expect politicians in their 40's and 50's to have never taken drugs, the house of commons would be even more different from the whole of society than it is already. I think his hypocrisy is a problem but having a few lines 20 years ago, no big deal

There are super sleuths who believe his wife, DM journalist Sarah Vine leaked the story to make him appear cool and less ‘Brexity’.

Boney that's if anyone actually thinks taking Coke is cool?

What is cool about it?

There is nothing that mg could do that could ever ever be considered cool.

The most horrifying thing about this is the thought of being in the company of someone like Gove when he's off his tits on coke.

Cokeheads are pompous, narcissistic bores, imo. Gove has those attributes already, what must he be like after a few toots?

Just because they aren’t the ones physically holding the knife that stabs the 14 boy on the council estate doesn’t mean they aren’t partly responsible. Kids are being killed and forced into county lines drug running in order to fuel middle class dinner parties

This is worth repeating. The same cohort of people wringing their hands over compost bins and school ofsted ratings generally appear not to give a shit about the teenagers living in areas controlled by gangs who sustain their supply chain (and think nothing of taking a long haul flight).

Nothing worse than the aspirational middle class for breathtaking hypocrisy and armchair activism. I’m not perfect but at least I have an awareness of that.

Fuck Gove. He doesn’t deserve the cost to is to keep him in prison. Someone is clearly out to take him down so let the little turd writhe in public.

There are super sleuths who believe his wife, DM journalist Sarah Vine leaked the story to make him appear cool and less ‘Brexity’. Makes perfect sense to me!

I do hope this is the end of his career.

Even if it leads to the election of BoJo (who, I believe, has at least hinted that he has used coke in the past)?

Let's face it, if every MP guilty of hypocrisy were to resign, we might as well have a GE, as there'd probably be more than 600 byelections. "Politician" and "hypocrite" are practically synonyms imo.

There are super sleuths who believe his wife, DM journalist Sarah Vine leaked the story to make him appear cool and less ‘Brexity’

They’d have more luck spiking the nations water supply with lsd if that’s their goal.

Burpsandrustles

that's if anyone actually thinks taking Coke is cool?

Raves (showing my age), night clubs, films, tv shows, film stars, footballers etc. have all promoted drugs as being cool (promoted may not be the correct word but you get my point).

There are many people out there that believe drugs are cool, or they do little harm etc.

At the point at which you take it, the cocaine would be in your possssion for the purposes of s5(2) of MODA. So yes it is a crime, albeit one that in reality would be highly unlikely to attract a custodial sentence. Yes, if someone else has supplied it to you, even on a social basis (dinner party, no money changing hands) they have committed the more serious offence of s4(3)(b), concerned in the supply.

Did he take it as a student? I bet it was icing sugar.

Upthread, you don't need to admire his honesty, it's in a book about to be published. Otherwise he'd still be being as honest as he was when he declared he had never taken drugs when entering USA. See Andrew Marr today in which he admits that.

I don't like the man but i don't think he should go to prison for it, i suppose he's admitted to it because he want's to be Prime Minister, i would say a lot of politicians have taken drug's at one point in there lives

Even if it leads to the election of BoJo (who, I believe, has at least hinted that he has used coke in the past)?

Sure. I would argue that anyone who serves as Justice Secretary and argues for firmer drug laws should be held to a much higher standard than the average MP, who I agree has probably tried coke.

Well you did you would probably have to put in 90% of the rest of the MP/Lords as I suspect most have 'tried' some sort of drug in their past.
Fabulous! Well that's us half way to sorting the current political climate then. You've made my Sunday

Upthread, you don't need to admire his honesty, it's in a book about to be published. Otherwise he'd still be being as honest as he was when he declared he had never taken drugs when entering USA. See Andrew Marr today in which he admits that.

Yes. Anyone who argues specifically for the war on drugs has far more blood on their hands than the recreational users of drugs, and more specifically, puts themselves in a very awkward position where they seek positions of leadership.

I've done loads of drugs in the past. I would expect to get a free pass as an MP because if I'd use my influence to dismantle the WOD at the first opportunity.

I'd like to throw him in for being a general tit.

Well of course, middle class, white people with professional jobs taking illegal drugs is just totally fine.

Meanwhile, if you're a poor, black boy on a council estate and have a small amount of cannabis found on you, you're a disgusting criminal and proof stop and search is working.

The whole thing is disgusting hypocrisy.

You don't need to be in possession of cocaine to take it. Maybe your friend bought some on a night out, offered you a line in the toilets technically you weren't in possession of it, you just took some.

Meanwhile, if you're a poor, black boy on a council estate and have a small amount of cannabis found on you, you're a disgusting criminal and proof stop and search is working.

PRECISELY.

One must possess it in order to take it.

Incorrect. Could have been someone else's. Coke quite often provided by the host at certain dinner parties. No suggestion he supplied or brought along his own.

To be fair, 90% of the cabinet has probably had a post-dinner line or two.

There are super sleuths who believe his wife, DM journalist Sarah Vine leaked the story to make him appear cool and less ‘Brexity’.

Or maybe she doesn't was him to be PM

90% of the cabinet has probably had a post-dinner line or two.

I think some of them do it before they go in for their debates

Even Andrea Leadsom of all people has admitted to using recreational drugs now. The Commons will be empty if they’re all prosecuted.

Is Boris’s “I sneezed so the white powder didn’t go up my nose” any more believable than Clintons “I didn’t inhale”?