Is Michael Gove the government’s only true radical?

I have been waiting more than two years for this government to say or do something really radical. By this I don’t mean taking the Blairite revolution to its logical conclusion (or is it reductio ad absurdum?) by introducing pseudo-markets deeper into every area of the public sector and reforms to the welfare state New Labour certainly considered but never dared to carry out.

But what was genuinely counter-intuitive for the Labour Party is not necessarily so for the Conservatives. For Tony Blair to embrace the private sector, distance himself from the trade unions and challenge the received wisdom of Labour’s state-ism was a genuine break with the past. For David Cameron to do so is merely to embrace tradition.

I remember taking a train to Winchester with David Cameron during his leadership campaign and asking him whether his new cuddly Conservatism would ever be prepared to consider something genuinely unexpected, such as building more council houses or renationalising the railways.