Political Dinners: the case of Michael Gove
At the 2021 Tory fund raising ball held in London on 22nd November someone paid £25,000 for dinner with Michael Gove. Many will think this is rather a lot unless of course it comes with a free Government contract attached. Gove has been in the news around cash for access which seemed to involve dinners, although whether they actually took place is another matter.
Gove is a regular speaker at political dinners, mainly organised by local Tory associations. Tickets cost rather less than £25K however. What Gove actually eats is not so easy to discover although we do know that during pub restrictions in 2020 he opined that two Scotch eggs would make a decent starter.
More broadly there is a considerable tradition of political dinners.
The Cato St conspiracy in February 1820 was about taking revenge for Peterloo by murdering the Cabinet at a dinner they were holding in Grosvenor Square. The dinner never took place but the conspirators were arrested.
Radicals and the left also had a considerable tradition of political dinners, often to mark specific anniversaries of demonstrations or events or radical birthdays. That tradition has continued to some extent, although the varied cuisines of recent times means that bread, cheese and porter probably no longer works as well as did in the 1820s and 1830s.
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