Tight-Lipped About The Reasons

This afternoon, the Daily Mail published this, by Elizabeth Ivens, which is archived here:

An Oxford University professor is facing trial after being charged with possessing indecent images of children. Dr Lola Salem, 33, is a music lecturer at prestigious Oriel College, the oldest royal foundation college at Oxford, where King Charles is the 'official visitor' as reigning monarch. She was suspended by the college, whose famous alumni include Sir Walter Raleigh, after they became aware of the charges in June. She has also been barred from teaching students there and at fellow Oxford colleges Wadham and St Catherine's where she previously lectured in French. 

Dr Salem has been accused of possessing indecent images of children between May 2021 and February 2023. Three of the images are classed as category B, the second most serious category, and one is classed as category C. She is currently on bail after pleading not guilty to the charges earlier this year. She is expected to stand trial at Oxford Crown Court next year. Oriel College confirmed it 'was made aware of serious charges against an employee in June 2026'. It stated: 'This employee was suspended, pending the outcome of legal proceedings.'

French-born Dr Salem joined Oriel in 2022 and has been a lecturer in music at Oxford since 2018. The academic, who was educated in Paris and attended the world-famous Sorbonne University, completed her PhD at Oxford in 2022 on opera business, singers, economic and legal history in the 17th and 18th centuries. She was awarded a research fellowship in 2023 and has since 'devoted her time to examining artistic institutions, governance and cultural policy', according to her online biography. She describes herself as an 'academic, cultural strategist and fundraiser working in education, culture and the arts'. She has also worked in the media as a columnist for the Telegraph, a business development partner for The Critic magazine and has appeared on BBC Radio 3.

In the same paper, on Friday 2 October and archived here, Richard Eden wrote:

The gulf in their ages – he, at 59, is 26 years her senior – inspired much attention when their romance first bloomed, though arguably not as much as the disparity in their respective physical charms. After all, far from placing himself in the same bracket as Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Gove has instead spoken candidly about what he considers his deficiencies in ‘looks, charisma, all the rest of it’. Now, however, the former Tory Cabinet minister’s relationship with his girlfriend, the French academic Dr Lola Salem, has ended after two years.

‘They’ve parted,’ a chum tells me, adding that Gove has moved out of the west London flat they shared. ‘The split happened some time ago, but all parties have been tight-lipped about the reasons.’ They first publicly emerged as a couple in 2024 when they were pictured arriving at The Spectator magazine’s summer party, with Gove gallantly shielding Lola from the rain with an umbrella. Gove was later photographed leaning in to kiss her at a London restaurant. Not long afterwards, Gove, who had just stood down as an MP, was appointed The Spectator’s editor and, though discreet about his newfound love, he didn’t try to keep it secret.

There was certainly no danger that Lola would ever be in his intellectual shadow. With two degrees under her belt from Paris, she was awarded a doctorate at Oxford. Gove – memorably described by his ex-wife, my fellow Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine, as ‘a heterosexual man in a gay man’s body’ – has admitted to having an intense crush on Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. If, he joked, Ms Mahmood could see what he looked at on his computer, ‘she would discover that quite a lot of my browsing is me typing in “Shabana Mahmood images” or “Shabana Mahmood history”.’ Added Gove: ‘She’s gorgeous. I’m a huge fan. I’ll have to tell my girlfriend about this.’