Michael Gove has long been known to smoke. Photo: Jeremy Selwyn. the roof of his ministry after he was massacred by members of the public in the street.
The taxpayer-funded hut was built after the raising secretary was surrounded by anti-vaccine activists outside the raising department, housing and communities in October 2021.
Police had to escort a 55-year-old man to a building on Marsham Street in Westminster after he was ambushed by several protesters with video cameras shouting «Arrest Michael Gove!» and “Do your job!”.
One person asked: “Mr Gove, how do you justify the illegal quarantine imposed in this country?”
He also faced other security threats, including being targeted by the assassin Sir David Amess, and his home address was written on a wall in Belfast.
The Telegraph understands that the father-of-two no longer felt comfortable taking smoke breaks outside the building, and police advised him to find another smoking area. One source said: «It all happened after he was killed.»
An office block that also includes the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have no available open space other than the roof.
Another insider added: «The building is like a giant glass cage — it's one long building and all the departments are interconnected, so if you want to smoke, you either have to go downstairs or go up to the roof.»
It is not known how much the smoking booth is worth, but the bus shelter-like structures can be sold for around £5,000.
A spokesman for the Department of Upgrading, Housing and Communities said: — An ongoing policy of not commenting on the Secretary of State's security measures or ministers.
A Whitehall source said: «The protected area was granted on the strong advice of police and security officials after Mr. Gove was harassed by anti-vaccination protesters near the department who threatened to hang him, and after it was discovered, that David Amess' killer, terrorist Ali Harbi Ali visited Gove's house five times armed with a knife.
During Ali's trial last April, it emerged that he was investigating and planning attacks on other MPs, including Mr Gove. The investigation revealed that he had conducted four reconnaissance visits to Mr. Gove's home address in March and June 2021.
The discovery came a year after ominous graffiti threatening Mr. Gove, which identified his an address and a warning: «We do not forgive, we do not forget» appeared in a loyalist area of Belfast in May 2021. The message comes amid rising tensions in Northern Ireland over the UK's Brexit trade deal. in which Mr. Gove, then Cabinet Minister, played a leading role.
Derided by teachers
As an MP since he was elected to Surrey Heath in 2005, Mr Gove has dealt with critics in his long political career.
In 2013, when he was Minister of Education, teachers made fun of him during a Q&A session at the National Association of School Principals Conference.
He is known to like June 2021 was spotted smoking outside a cafe in Marylebone after returning from a vacation in Porto, Portugal, to watch the Champions League final.
Last month, Scottish journalist Maureen Simpson wrote an op-ed for Press & The magazine recalls running into Mr Gove and Betty Boothroyd, the former Speaker of the House of Commons, in the smoking area outside the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
An avid nightclub lover, he was twice spotted on the dance floor in his hometown. Aberdeen. The sightings came after his separation from journalist Sarah Vine, his wife of 21, during the pandemic. The couple finalized their divorce last year.
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