Michael Gove: I Sent DfE Private Emails Because My Blackberry Was Slow

I Sent Private Emails As My Work Blackberry Was Not Agreeable, Says Gove

It seems the Conservatives are behind with the times as well as in the opinion polls after Michael Gove claimed the reason he sent private emails to his staff was because his Blackberry was "not congenial".

Speaking on the BBC World At One programme, the education secretary answered the sensitive questions around his use of private email accounts for conducting official business and why they were sent from the "Mrs Blurt" account.

"It's a family joke actually," he sniffed.

The minister insisted his team at the Department for Education (DfE) were "amazing" and rubbished suggestions he had tried to bypass them by sending departmental emails from private accounts.

"Simply because the one thing that did frustrate me in the DfE was its IT and software which I could never get the hang of so I used my own laptop for ease and convenience and speed of communication."

He didn't explain why he was talking in past tense but he did clarify whether or not he was accusing the DfE technology of not working.

"Erm, the computer and er, what's it called... the blackberry I didn't find congenial to me so I just cracked on with my own Apple."

Presumably he means the laptop variety, not the fruit.

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