Sarah Vine
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Sarah Rosemary Vine (born 16 April 1967) is a British columnist. She has written for the '' Daily Mail'' since 2013. She was previously arts editor at ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
''. She was previously married to Conservative MP Michael Gove.


Early life

Sarah Rosemary Vine was born in Swansea, Wales on 16 April 1967. When she was five, the family moved to Italy, initially staying in Rome before moving to
Frascati Frascati () is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated wit ...
. She reports that she returned to the United Kingdom at the age of 16, and that she attended the comprehensive schools Hammersmith and West London,
Holland Park School Holland Park School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form in Holland Park, London, England. In 2013, it has attained academy status. Opened in 1958, the school became the flagship for comprehensive education, and at one time had ove ...
, and Lewes Technical College near Brighton. Vine studied modern languages at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
.


Career

After graduation, Vine worked in customer services for the retailer
Hobbs Ltd Hobbs is a women’s clothing, footwear and accessories retailer based in London, UK. It was founded in Hampstead in 1981 and began as a shoe retailer. Hobbs now has stores across the United Kingdom, concession stores in the United States and ...
. She then worked in a series of jobs within journalism, including TV listings sub at the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'' and features editor for the magazine ''
Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...
'', before joining ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
''. She was promoted to arts editor at that newspaper. Along with Rosemary Davidson, in 2007 she co-wrote the book ''The Great Big Glorious Book for Girls''. She was a columnist for ''The Times'' for 15 years before joining the '' Daily Mail'', a tabloid newspaper, in 2013. In 2019, she received the Columnist of the Year – Popular (2018) award at the Society of Editors' Press Awards. In March 2014, she and her husband's decision to send their daughter to Grey Coat Hospital comprehensive school in Westminster made Michael Gove the first Conservative Party education secretary to have chosen the state over the private sector for their child's secondary schooling. In her ''Daily Mail'' column, Vine celebrated the "miracle" of state education and criticised private education, saying "Its agenda is a fundamentally selective one, based not only on ability to pay, but also on pupil potential. And it is also, let's face it, about snobbery". Vine added that her decision to send her daughter to a state secondary school was motivated by a desire for her child to receive a broad education: "that you shouldn't judge people by their clothes, or where they live, but by who they really are. That, in my view, is the miracle of our state education system. Like the
NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
, it welcomes all-comers. The state doesn't care where its pupils come from; all that matters is where they're heading." In November 2014, she wrote a column criticising food writer and activist Jack Monroe for mentioning the death of David Cameron's son in 2009 in one of a series of tweets criticising Cameron. Vine went on to question Monroe's decision to have a child herself, insinuating that her choice led to her own poverty. Monroe condemned the article as 'homophobic, transphobic, deadnaming, ignorant, and generally ghastly lies'. During the 2015 United Kingdom general election, Vine used her column to criticise Labour Party leader
Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...
, his wife and their 'forlorn little kitchen'. In the same column, she reported that her own kitchen was '10 years old' and that the 'hob has many knobs missing'. '' Private Eye'' magazine questioned this as it commented that £7,000 had been spent on the kitchen as part of her husband Michael Gove's MP expenses. Vine suggested that this was a 'twisted interpretation'. In the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership, she voted for the UK to leave the EU. On 28 June, she accidentally sent a private email meant to be read by Gove and his close advisors to a member of the public, who leaked it to the press. In the email, Vine had advised her husband not to back
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
's bid to become leader of the Conservative Party unless 'specific assurances' were given to him. Two days later, Johnson unexpectedly dropped out of the
2016 Conservative Party leadership election The 2016 Conservative Party leadership election was held due to Prime Minister David Cameron's resignation as party leader. He had resigned after losing the national referendum to leave the European Union. Cameron, who supported Britain's cont ...
, after Gove made a surprise bid to become leader.


Personal life

Vine married future Conservative MP and Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove in 2001. They met when she was the arts editor and he was the comments editor at ''The Times'' newspaper. They have one son and one daughter. Vine is the godmother to one of former Prime Minister David Cameron's daughters. In May 2020, Vine shared a bookcase picture "as a very special treat for my trolls" which featured a book by the
Holocaust denier Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...
David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include '' The Destruction of Dresden'' (1 ...
, and a copy of ''
The Bell Curve ''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray, in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influenced by ...
'', which controversially claims that intelligence is highly heritable and that median IQ varies among races. In July 2021, a joint statement on behalf of Vine and Gove stated: "Michael and Sarah have agreed to separate and they are in the process of finalising their divorce." In January 2022, a divorce was granted on the grounds of Gove's unreasonable behaviour.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vine, Sarah 1967 births Living people Alumni of University College London Daily Mail journalists People from Swansea The Times people British columnists 21st-century British journalists 21st-century British women writers