IT wasn’t the sight of Michael Gove’s knees but his kilt which caught Melania Trump’s eye and which could now mean husband Donald will be sporting the Gordon tartan at some future White House event.
The Environment Secretary let slip that, amid all the Westminster speculation of a one-to-one with the US President, he had in fact spoken to him during Monday night’s state banquet in Buckingham Palace.
"I'm afraid I didn't see him today. I saw him on Monday evening. I had an opportunity to say a few words to the President on Monday night," explained Mr Gove.
He then told members of the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee: “These occasions require people to wear evening dress. I had the opportunity to wear the kilt. It was very interesting that my wife was talking to the First Lady, who was very taken with that.
“The President may well be placing an order for a dress Gordon tartan. That is another example of a successful trading relationship between the UK and America that we have brokered," quipped the Scot.
However, The Herald was able to point out to Mr Gove that during his Whitehall press conference on Tuesday - ie after the banquet - Mr Trump made clear he did not know the Secretary of State. The Scot replied with a shrug of his shoulders and a quizzical look.
In fact, Mr Gove met the President two years ago in New York when he interviewed him for The Times, just days before his inauguration.
One could be forgiven for thinking that the Environment Secretary had failed to leave a lasting impression on Mr Trump as a number of fellow contenders for the Tory crown have been eager to make clear they had spoken to the President.
Sources close to Jeremy Hunt said the Foreign Secretary had a one-to-one session with him on Tuesday evening while aides of Sajid Javid were keen to point out the Home Secretary had a "brush-by" with him at the D-Day commemorations in Portsmouth today.
Meanwhile, it emerged Boris Johnson had a 20-minute phone-call with the President although they were unable to arrange a face-to-face meeting as the former Foreign Secretary was taking part in a Tory leadership hustings.
But, from all he has said, it is clear who Mr Trump would like to be Britain’s next Prime Minister: Nigel Farage.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel