Michael Gove might have appeared visibly elated for landing the first UK interview with President-elect Donald Trump but that has not stopped him from drawing criticism. As the Vote Leave campaigner made his way round UK news outlets on Monday, he was pressed about his inability to ask the billionaire property developer any difficult questions or challenge him on his inconsistencies.
But this is not the only criticism Mr Gove has received for the Trump Tower meeting. The former Justice Secretary has been rebuked for describing the lift attendant in Trump Tower as an “immensely dignified African-American attendant”.
Mr Gove's description was labelled “excruciating” and “cringeworthy”, with people suggesting the Conservative politician appeared surprised the lift attendant was “dignified”.
“My colleague Kai Diekmann, of the German newspaper Bild, and I were whisked up to the president-elect’s office in a lift plated with reflective golden panels and operated by an immensely dignified African-American attendant kitted out in frock coat and white cotton gloves,” Mr Gove, who returned to The Times last year as a columnist, wrote in his piece.
“It was as though the Great Glass Elevator from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had been restyled by Donatella Versace then staffed by the casting director for Gone with the Wind.”
Guardian columnist, Marina Hyde, took Mr Gove apart for his column by sharing a screen shot of the piece.
“I've read Gove's 'immensely dignified African-American attendant' six times and it doesn't get any less excruciating,” she said on Twitter.
Comedian Frankie Boyle drew attention to Mr Gove’s description of the attendant’s cotton gloves, appearing to hint it was a reference to the cotton plantations during slavery.
“He must know what he's doing - is it some spectacularly misplaced attempt to be arch? Or has he suffered a major head trauma?” added Hyde.
“It's funny how if you remove the 'immensely dignified' it immediately stops sounding racist and comes to sound deeply critical,” noted Giles Coren.
The lift Mr Gove appears to be referring to is the one which Mr Trump and Nigel Farage famously took a photo in front of last November after their meeting.
According to an update in the Register of Members’ Interests, Mr Gove is working eight hours a week for The Times, for which he will pocket £150,000 a year.
Mr Gove was fired in the wake of the Brexit vote after running against Theresa May in the race to be Conservative leader.
