Michael gove

Early in the campaign for Scottish independence the SNP commissioned a party political broadcast called Two Futures. It told the story of Kirsty, a baby due to be born on polling day. ‘What kind of country will I grow up in?’ she asks in a childish falsetto. One vision of the future is full of colour and gap-toothed smiles, with children skipping and laughing on their way to school. A nuclear family sit around the breakfast table in a sun-kissed kitchen eating fruit (this scene acts as a useful reminder that the broadcast is set firmly in the realm of fantasy). The alternative is a future in which Scotland votes

Michael Gove’s gusto has returned after his elevation back to top level of the Cabinet. On Friday evening, the Justice Secretary spoke to Hampshire Conservative activists and members of the AECR group in the European Parliament. In his first speech since joining the Ministry of Justice, he acknowledged the role Daniel Hannan MEP has played in fighting for the upcoming EU referendum and said the government has to deliver ‘fundamental reform of our relationship with the European Union’ — and not just for Britain’s sake: ‘The exertions that the Prime Minister will devote to that task are driven not just by a desire to get a better deal for Britain,

Repealing the Human Rights Act is one of the most difficult tasks the government faces. On this week’s View from 22 podcast, the Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan and barrister Greg Callus discuss how and why Michael Gove intends to break Britain’s link with the European Court of Human Rights. Is it a purely symbolic gesture to repeal the HRA or should ordinary people care about this? Is the legal community generally supportive or against the move? And how does Gove’s personality help this battle? James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman also discuss the perils of a small majority government and how the Tory rebels intend to make life difficult for David Cameron. We

Michael Gove has been keeping a relatively low profile since being made Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor last weekend. I understand that he is keen to master the brief, and particularly the complexities around the creation of a British Bill of Rights, before he starts hitting the TV studios. But an address he gave to staff at the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday gives some clues as to the direction he is heading in. Interestingly Gove didn’t simply declare that the Tories would be scrapping the Human Rights Act. Instead, he said, ‘We’ll be seeking to ensure that human rights are enhanced and preserved by modernising and reforming the framework of

This was a vital election. A Tory failure would have been an act of political treason. Five years ago, the UK was grovelling with the PIGS in the fiscal sty. Our public finances were in a deplorable state, the financial system was in crisis and growth had disappeared over the economic horizon. No one has paid enough tribute to Messrs Cameron and Osborne for the sang-froid they displayed in the face of such adversity, and for their success. Not only that: we have two long-term structural problems in this country, both of which Lady Thatcher sidestepped, both of which David Cameron tackled. The first is welfare. In its corrosion of

Welcome to The Spectator’s coverage of David Cameron’s post-election reshuffle. Here are the latest appointments along with analysis. Key appointments: New appointments: Michael Gove (Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor), Sajid Javid (Business Secretary), Amber Rudd (Energy and Climate Change Secretary), Greg Clark (Communities and Local Government Secretary), David Mundell (Scotland Secretary), Greg Hands (Chief Secretary to the Treasury), Mark Harper (Chief Whip), Chris Grayling (Leader of the House of Commons), Matt Hancock (Cabinet Office Minister and Paymaster General), Priti Patel (Minister of State for Employment), Anna Soubry (Minister of State for Small Business), Oliver Letwin (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster), Boris Johnson (Political Cabinet), Robert Halfon (Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party), Ros Altmann (Pensions Minister), John Hayes  (Minister of

Michael Gove is the new Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, Downing Street has just announced. Chris Grayling will move to become Leader of the House. Number 10 is also confirming that, as David Cameron promised during the election campaign, Nicky Morgan will continue as Education Secretary. Becoming Justice Secretary marks a return to Gove running a big department after his service as chief whip in the run up to the general election. I suspect that there will be two things that Gove concentrates on. First, sorting out Britain’s relationship with the ECHR. Grayling had already committed the Tories to withdrawing from the Convention if parliament and courts here could not

For the past few days the BBC website has had an interactive game where you have to build your own coalition, using a series of possible results from tomorrow’s election. It ought to be marketed as an educational test, far more challenging even than Michael Gove’s rigorous school tests. But finally, I think I have done it. I have worked out the only possible way to build a viable government using the composition of the House of Commons which the polls appear to be predicting. Take Nate Silver’s analysis of the polls this morning, which predicts the following: Tories 281 seats, Labour 266, SNP 52, LibDem 26, DUP 8, Sinn

The Tories were less than pleased last week when Danny Alexander revealed confidential communications between the coalition partners regarding child benefit to a paper, as part of an election campaign ambush. The disclosure brought back up old tensions in the coalition, with Michael Gove claiming that it simply served as a reminder of the party’s true colours. ‘I don’t think it took the leak from Danny Alexander to make us aware of what the Liberal Democrats are really like,’ he told Mr S. Still, with no majority in sight for the Tories ahead of polling day, the party are in a forgiving mood with regards to working with the party in the future . ‘We are prepared, always,

Andrew Roberts  Biographer The Cameron ministry of 2010-15 will go down in history as having made Britain as the most successful economy in the developed world, despite it having inherited a near-bankrupt nation from a Labour party that spent money like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Ordinarily that should be enough to have it returned to power with a huge majority, but we live in gnarled, chippy, egalitarian times. The Prime Minister has overseen a hugely successful Olympics; saved thousands from almost certain death in Benghazi; won referendums on the alternative vote and (for the present at least) Scottish independence; protected 400 free schools and the great Gove education

The editor of The Spectator isn’t the only person thinking about the prospect of Ed Miliband becoming the next Prime Minister. Eighty educationalists have signed a letter in the Daily Mail today warning about the danger of a future Labour government curtailing academy freedoms. They’re concerned about Ed Miliband’s pledge that Labour would reintroduce ‘a proper local authority framework for all schools’ – which sounds a lot like placing all taxpayer-funded schools back under local authority control. The letter-writers flag up two freedoms they are particularly concerned about: the freedom that academies and free schools have to set their own pay and conditions and the freedom they have over the curriculum.

What is Tristram Hunt trying to say in the Times today? He seems to say that the teaching of British values is an important thing, except when Michael Gove or another Tory says so. When they advocate the teaching of British values, the concept becomes reactionary tosh, because Tories are restructuring the schools system in a Bad way. He doesn’t actually argue with Michael Gove’s four-part definition (‘the values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs’). He just implies that these things are spun by Tories in an evil right-wing way, without quite producing evidence. I think