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Michael Gove is a former journalist and keen monarchist. David Jones/PA Archive/Press Association Images
One's boat
Fit for a Queen: British minister suggests a yacht for diamond jubilee
Michael Gove believes that Her Majesty deserves “a gift from the nation” to mark the diamond jubilee.
WHAT DO YOU get the Queen who most likely has everything?
Well the answer is of course a yacht which has been helpfully suggested by one UK government minister as a present for Her Majesty’s diamond jubilee. The celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th year as, eh, Queen will take place in June and Education Secretary Michael Gove has suggested that it should be marked with a gift “from the nation”, the Guardian reports exclusively today.
Even though that nation is currently experiencing tough spending cuts and heightened austerity, Gove suggests the “excellent suggestion” of his colleague Universities Minister David Willetts for a royal yacht at a cost of £60 million would be a good one.
“In spite, and perhaps because of the austere times, the celebration should go beyond those of previous jubilees and mark the greater achievement that the diamond anniversary represents,” Gove writes in a letter to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt who is overseeing the celebrations. His suggestion has been criticised by the opposition.
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