MICHAEL Gove was confronted by a campaigner who told him he is a “national disgrace” before he was about to be interviewed outside Parliament.

He was accosted by full-time protester Steve Bray in London on Wednesday morning while doing the media rounds to promote the government’s long-promised “levelling up” plans.

Bray confronted Gove over PPE contracts – which have been sold on to friends of Tory MPs. 

READ MORE: Devolved nations told to join 'collective effort to level up the UK'

Bray said: “Mr Gove, you are liars, you are cheats, you are charlatans, you are fraudsters and you are destroying our United Kingdom.

“I have grandchildren, I have children… You are a national disgrace, your party is a national disgrace, an absolute disgrace and the sooner you’re out of office the better.”

Gove replied: “Totally understand your passion, respectfully disagree but thank you.”

Some £8.7 billion spent by the UK Government on personal protective equipment during the pandemic has been written off. 

Documents from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) show huge amounts wasted on useless equipment, while millions of pounds has been spent getting out of contracts or storing PPE at ports.

According to the 2020/21 accounts, some £673 million worth of equipment was found to be totally unusable, and £750m was spent on items that were not used before their expiry date.

Nearly £2.6bn was spent on “items not suitable for use in the NHS,” but which the department thinks can be sold or given to charities.

Theodore Agnew, a former Treasury and Cabinet Office minister, dramatically quit the government last Monday over Covid loan fraud.

He said oversight of the scheme was "nothing less than woeful". 

Gove told Good Morning Scotland yesterday: "I don't make any apology for the fact that we did everything possible to secure PPE for folk on the front line.

“Again, we work with every government across the UK at the time when there was a global race for PPE. Yes, high prices were paid but they were being paid by everyone.”

Bray, from Port Talbot, Wales, started protesting against Brexit every day in 2018 on College Green, Westminster.

READ MORE: Everything wrong with the Raith Rovers statement about David Goodwillie

He is known for regularly interrupting television interviews around Westminster as happened on Wednesday morning.

A reporter can be heard in the background pleading with Bray to allow Gove to speak on camera – referring to “viewers in Scotland”.

“Levelling up” aims to close the gap between rich and poor throughout the country but has been criticised for not offering new money to communities.

Levelling Up Secretary Gove told the BBC today the strategy was not about offering funding but rather making sure cash was spent more effectively.