Some of Britain's largest developers have been left shocked after being approached about appointing former housing secretary Michael Gove, despite his history with the industry.
Headhunters, acting on behalf of the former Tory minister, have reportedly contacted several major developers to offer his services as a non-executive director following his retirement from politics last year.
The approaches are said to have been met with disbelief. “I almost crashed my car,” said one housebuilding executive who received the call while driving.
Gove, who is now the editor of The Spectator, confirmed he had enlisted executive recruiters to help explore his next career move, but was not aware of which sectors or businesses they had approached on his behalf.
During his tenure as housing secretary, Gove clashed repeatedly with developers, accusing them of operating like a cartel.
Stewart Baseley, the chairman of the Home Builders Federation (HBF), told Gove he should be “engaging in a positive and constructive manner” given he was pressuring the industry to pay billions of pounds to fix unsafe cladding.
The HBF estimates that UK housebuilders have now paid, or committed themselves to pay, £10.2billion to fix dangerous cladding and other defects, even on buildings they had nothing to do with.