Michael Gove and the fight for the moral high ground

Michael Gove’s speech today was, as James explained at the weekend, a pitch from the Tories to be the optimists of the 2015 election. He wanted to have a little boast about the success of the government’s education reforms in raising the desirability of a state education. He said:

‘When Channel Four make documentaries about great comprehensives – academies – in Essex and Yorkshire, when BBC3 make heroes out of tough young teachers, when even Tatler publishes a guide to the best state schools – you know tectonic plates have started to shift.’

This is hardly the running down of teachers or state schools that Gove’s critics like to complain about. But this speech has still attracted a fair bit of rage. This isn’t a great surprise, because Michael Gove now provokes rage from the teaching unions and the Left whenever he remarks on the weather, let alone praises his own education policies or announces anything new.