A female Oxford University professor who recently split from her much-older former UK Cabinet minister boyfriend is fighting child abuse material charges.
Dr Lola Salem, a 33-year-old French-born Jewish music lecturer, began dating 59-year-old former Conservative MP Michael Gove in 2024, and the end of their relationship was revealed by gossip columnist Richard Eden in the Daily Mail on October 6.
In the article Mr Eden quoted a “chum” as saying “the split happened some time ago, but all parties have been tight-lipped about the reasons”, and noted that the relationship attracted attention because of the former couple’s large age gap.
Four days later, the same publication, where Mr Gove’s journalist ex-wife Sarah Vine also works, published an article reporting that Dr Salem is accused of possessing indecent images of children between May 2021 and February 2023, and three alleged images are in the second worst category.
The professor was suspended by Oxford’s Oriel College after it became aware of the charges in June, and is currently on bail while awaiting trial in the Oxford Crown Court.
Mr Gove, a member of the House of Lords and a self-described “proud Zionist”, led the UK’s botched Covid response and pushed for Israel-style vaccine passports while serving in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, and was appointed editor of centre-right magazine The Spectator after stepping down as MP.
While in Cabinet Mr Gove lived rent-free in a multi-million-pound apartment near Buckingham Palace, lent to him by former prime minister Liz Truss after his break-up with Ms Vine.
He was also at the centre of persistent homosexual rumours, as he lived in an apartment with gay conservative MP Nick Boles and gay rights campaigner Ivan Massow, which he addressed in June last year, confirming they were untrue.
Last month he played himself, but as prime minister, in a new British TV show called The Wargame, set nine months in the future during a war with Russia.
Dr Salem has been a music lecturer at Oxford since 2018, and has worked as a columnist for The Telegraph, which also published an article on her charges.
Header image: Left, Lola Salem (Oriel College). Right, Michael Gove (House of Lords, Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0).
