The Enigma Gove?

Chief Whip Michael Gove has given his first keynote speech since being politically assassinated last summer. Plucked from the frontline of reform, the former Education Secretary concluded his speech to Policy Exchange tonight, thus:

‘It is often the case in history that individuals fail to appreciate the stability, the security and the steady progress they enjoy until it’s gone. It’s often the case that effective democratic institutions and progressive reforming Governments are taken for granted until they are subject to mistaken change. It is, sadly, all too often the case in politics that the urge to criticise what is in front of us rather than appreciate the risks of the untried alternative can pitch us into crisis.’

Gove was talking about keeping the Tories in power come May – of course – but reading between the lines it’s not hard to see a coded message about his own unceremonious ditching.

Update: Mr S has just spoken to Gove, and roaring with laughter, he claimed this is a ‘sophisticated over interpretation worthy of a starred first in English from Oxford’.