Majority: Michael Gove won the constituency of Surrey Heath in 2005. Surrey Heath is considered to be one of the safest Tory seats in the country and so a high majority doesn’t indicate very much about Gove’s success as a politician. The vast majority of Tory candidates would be assured of a high majority in Surrey Heath.
Competence: Gove has been made Secretary of State and has been given responsibility for a key policy area: Education. It is quite apparent that this is not a result of his professionalism and expertise. He is part of ‘the Notting Hill Set’, and as such is and has been a devoted supporter of David Cameron. He has been rewarded with a position far beyond his standing and ability. He has been responsible for several high-profile blunders during office, including the cutting of the school building programme initiated by the last government, in which he released information riddled with errors and was forced to apologise to the House of Commons.
He was also forced to make embarrassing funding u-turns on the Educational Maintenance Allowance and School Sports. The most damaging blow to Gove’s reputation has been a Judicial Review in which a judge stated that Gove’s failure was "so unfair as to amount to an abuse of power" and that "however pressing the economic problems, there was no overriding public interest which precluded consultation or justifies the lack of any consultation". Gove was then forced to reconsider axing projects on the Building Schools for the Future programme. Previous Secretaries of States have resigned over single, public blunders, but Gove shamelessly continues. The real danger resides in the decisions Gove has rushed through parliament - similarly ignoring the need for appropriate consultation - the blunder of which will only become apparent in the damage it will do to a generation of the nation’s school children.
Representation: Politically, Gove is considered to represent the centre-right, like his ‘moderate Conservative’ Prime Minister. He joined the Conservative Party at university and became secretary of the Aberdeen South Young Conservatives. As a journalist he primarily wrote for right-wing publications like The Times and The Spectator. He wrote speeches for Conservative Cabinet ministers Peter Lilley and Michael Howard and was chairman of the right-wing think tank Policy Exchange.
He is less representative of influences in his early life. He was adopted at 4-months old by a couple in Aberdeen. His adoptive father ran a fish-processing business and his mother worked as a lab assistant. They were both Labour Party supporters and Gove used to canvass for Labour door-to-door. He attended a local state school but won a scholarship to a nearby private school, from where he went to Oxford University and joined the Conservative Party. Since Gove benefitted from a private education on a scholarship, is seems unlikely under the present changes to university funding and fees, that Gove would have been able to attend Oxford, regardless of ability. Gove’s rags-to-riches story is hard not to appreciate: he has undoubtedly benefitted from some good fortune in his family background and with his scholarship. Unfortunately, he has used his gifts – those natural to him and those bequeathed by fate – to cripple the chances of those people that face the same challenges today. That is unforgivable.
Honesty: Gove has had to apologise for publically misrepresenting facts by delivering "not-quite-true information to Parliament" over the fees paid to school architects. His most disingenuous, public acts involve reportedly claiming £7,000 on taxpayer-funded expenses to furnish one of his London properties. One third of this claim went to an interior design company owned by his own mother-in-law. Gove also claimed money for children’s items, despite these being banned under Commons rule. He then 'flipped' his designated second home to a house in his constituency, a property for which he claimed £13,000 to cover stamp duty. While he was moving between his multiple homes he charged the taxpayer more than £500 per night to stay at the Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa. This is disgusting given that, based on assets alone, Gove is estimated to be a millionaire.
Danger: Gove is notorious for not listening to advice. He is a politician of complete conviction and not in a good way. His belief burns with the unshakable fervor of a convert. His desire for absolute control is clear in the unprecedented number of powers he has freshly attached to his role as Education Secretary. His habit of taking his own personal preferences and applying them for all, borders on the almost-megalomaniacal. The perfect example of this is his introduction of the English Baccalaureate, which is only awarded to students who have selected a specific combination of GCSEs: a combination chosen by Gove himself. This is irrespective of an individual student’s abilities in those subjects. Students that are gifted musicians, artists, technically able with Information Technology or linguistically adept at the languages that are not included on Gove’s prescribed list, will not achieve the benefits of his Baccalaureate, even if they pass their core subjects with flying colours. Gove is an absolutely lethal Education Secretary, armed with an unwieldy raft of changes, applied at a reckless pace. If he was ever to become Prime Minister, the country would be changed from top to bottom – the average citizen’s choices reduced to those preferences approved by Gove personally. A democratic dictatorship.
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