Michael Gove has made a return to frontline politics less than four months after he was dramatically sacked by Boris Johnson as his government fell apart.

Amid an avalanche of ministerial resignations last July, Mr Gove told his sometime ally, sometime rival that his time in Downing Street was up.

The then prime minister responded by firing him.

It was as if, suggested one Tory MP, Mr Gove had offered the “metaphorical bottle of whisky and the revolver” to Mr Johnson who promptly “downed the whisky and turned the revolver on Michael Gove”.

The following day it was Mr Johnson who was on his way out while Mr Gove was to throw his weight behind Rishi Sunak in the race to succeed him.

But as the summer wore on and it was clear the tide had turned firmly in favour of Liz Truss, Mr Gove appeared to accept that a ministerial career which had seen him hold the some of the biggest jobs in government was finally over.

At the Tory Party conference in October, he was one of the ringleaders of the revolt against Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, which forced a climbdown over the plan to scrap the 45p top rate of tax.

Furious allies of Ms Truss accused him of getting “his kicks in a sadistic way”, claiming he had snubbed a peace offering of a high profile diplomatic posting in the Middle East.

The reversal of political fortunes which saw Ms Truss ousted and Mr Sunak installed in No 10 has seen Mr Gove brought back as Levelling Up Secretary, the last post he held under Boris Johnson.

Seen as one of the most effective ministers, he has frequently been employed in some of the most difficult and high-profile roles in government.

It remains to be seen however whether his Levelling Up brief will enjoy the same prominence it did under Mr Johnson.