A self-described "man of the old school" who viewed the Tsar as the "anointed one, the rightful sovereign", Goremykin was a loyal supporter of Nicholas II as autocrat and accordingly pursued conservative policy.

He was apparently well liked by the Empress Alexandra (in 1894 he was appointed as senator; in 1896 as Actual Privy Councillor and became a member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society).

Seventy-five years of age, a conservative, and a life-long bureaucrat, he was, in his own words, 'pulled like a winter coat out of mothballs', to lead the government.

The hostility expressed toward him by members of both the State Duma and the Council of Ministers greatly impaired the effectiveness of his government.

After the February Revolution in 1917, he was arrested and interrogated before the "Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry for the Investigation of Illegal Acts by Ministers and Other Responsible Persons of the Czarist Regime".

Goremykin's conservatism and inability to function in a semi-parliamentary system made him largely unsuitable for the position of head of government during the last years of Imperial Russia.

Goremykin was despised by parliamentarians and revolutionaries and personally desired only to retire, and the ineffectiveness of his last government contributed to the instability and ultimate downfall of the Romanov dynasty.