Gove kills two birds with one stone

Michael Gove may be a pip-squeak but he has an imperious voice and that formidable quality of both sounding and being enormously clever. With a faint note of arrogance, he bossed a potentially difficult interview on the Today programme this morning. Tired of defending himself against Ed Balls’ dishonest maxim that what’s good for bureaucratic process is good for children, Gove changed tactics. He described his bill as a ‘permissive piece of legislation’ and linked it directly to the Blair-Adonis Academy reforms, which were frustrated by a regressive coalition wedded to the educational status quo. Gove emphasised that the cuts to the school building fund (drawn up by Balls in uncosted form) did not affect academies: academy status releases funds that are otherwise held by the Local Education Authority. His message was clear: this is a bureaucratic reform and it has been the subject of public and parliamentary debate for more than five years; it merits no more deliberation; with a new school year around the corner, action is required.