RICHARD EDEN: Michael Gove splits from French lover 26 years his junior

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. Michael Gove and Dr Lola Salem arrive at The Spectator magazine’s summer party in 2024, with Gove gallantly shielding Lola from the rain with an umbrellaThere 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.’Roux's MasterChef ruse for Torode?Sacked by the BBC as host of MasterChef last year after an allegation was made that he had used the ‘N’ word at a filming wrap party in 2019 while singing along to Gold Digger by rap star Kanye West, John Torode could stage a comeback.At least, if former MasterChef judge Michel Roux gets his way. ‘They should get the chefs and the judges, including past ones, to cook off against each other,’ Roux tells me at the Le Cordon Bleu London Scholarship Final at Cord restaurant in London.‘That would be great. I’d be up for it.’No ‘kids club’ in Tenerife for the children of TV wildlife presenter Steve Backshall. ‘In February, I am taking them to the jungle,’ he says of Logan, eight, and twins Kit and Willow, six. ‘It’s tremendously exciting but also quite nerve-racking. Some of the things I take for granted will be terrifying to a child.’Marisa has Paris chic to a tease... Life imitating art for Marisa Abela? The actress, who plays provocative heiress Yasmin in racy BBC drama Industry, brought a little of her on-screen seductress to Paris.While in the French capital for Fashion Week, the actress, 29, posed in an unbuttoned white shirt while clutching a glass of wine in a hotel room.‘Paris, my love is guaranteed,’ she wrote alongside the snap. Marisa Abela posed in an unbuttoned white shirt while clutching a glass of wine in a hotel roomMarisa, who was educated at £64,000-per-year Roedean boarding school in East Sussex, is due to reprise her role in the fifth and final series of Industry.Having dug up royal secrets for The Crown, Annie Sulzberger has turned her attention to another formidable dynasty.I hear Netflix is developing a project about the Rothschild banking family, with Sulzberger, who was The Crown’s head of research, as an executive producer.Her agent has listed The Rothschilds as ‘currently in development’ at Netflix Productions UK. Sulzberger, who helped Peter Morgan’s team dramatise royal history over all six series, certainly knows her way around an influential family.£27m gives Emma a degree of comfortCurrently studying for a doctorate at Oxford, Emma Watson won’t struggle to buy a gown when she finally secures her DPhil – Oxford’s equivalent of a PhD.The 36-year-old star notched up a £1.9million profit at Hestia Hebe, the company into which she squirrels her earnings, in the last financial year, according to figures just filed at Companies House.The Harry Potter actress, who co-owns a gin company with her brother Alex, currently has £27.75million tucked away at Hestia Hebe. That’s a lot of student staple Pot Noodles. Emma Watson has notched up a £1.9million profit at Hestia Hebe, the company into which she squirrels her earnings, in the last financial yearKate fashion favourite's fear of street crimeOne of the Princess of Wales’s favourite designers has revealed she’s ditching her luxury designer handbags over fears they make her a target for thieves.Jade Holland Cooper, 39, has previously shown off her Hermes Birkins bags on social media.They can cost around £12,000 when new and fetch up to £25,000 or more on the resale market.‘I’ve got rid of most of my designer bags,’ Jade explains. ‘I just feel like, from a security perspective, you’re so vulnerable. It makes you such a target.’The Cotswolds-based designer, married to Superdry co-founder Julian Dunkerton, adds: ‘Effectively you’re just walking around with a route to somebody wanting to snatch that out of your hand now.‘There are so few places you can even wear or use these things that I think I actually don’t want them any more.’