Less than a year ago, commentators were writing Michael Gove’s political obituary as he suffered a humiliating demotion from education secretary to chief whip. Over the four years of his tenure in education, he had become known for getting potentially unpopular things done in Whitehall: overhauling the curriculum in pursuit of academic rigour, and embarking on his pet programme of free schools, allowing parents to set up their own educational establishments.
This was all done with David Cameron’s blessing and approval. But along the way Gove alienated much of the teaching profession and publicly clashed with his Tory cabinet colleague Theresa May. The final straw was Conservative HQ’s dismay that the Tories were persistently lagging behind Labour in the opinion polls on education, and growing rumblings of discontent among parents about shortages of primary school places in some areas.
What the prime minister had prized in Gove in the early years – a zeal for radical reform – appeared in the runup to a general election to have turned into a weakness – being too ideological and dismissive of consultation. The emollient Nicky Morgan was dispatched as the new education secretary to smooth over relations with parents and teachers alike.
As chief whip, Gove was at the heart of Downing Street and was able to influence election strategy, but it became apparent that managing MPs was not his forte, after a couple of embarrassing and unnecessary government defeats on his watch.
Within hours of a decisive general election win, Cameron once again reached for Gove’s reforming spirit, making him justice secretary. With this appointment, it is clear that Cameron must regard justice as an area that needs a senior Tory politician to drive through changes that may be controversial with some sections of society.
Top of Gove’s to-do list is the scrapping of the Human Rights Act and its replacement with a British bill of rights – a move that could get the UK into trouble with the European court of human rights. He will have to oversee an ambitious programme of reform, including inviting greater involvement of private firms in the prison system and the probation sector. There will also be a need to try to reduce the size of the prison population without appearing to be a party willing to go soft on crime and security in order to save money.
The legal profession may be wary of the fact that Gove, like his predecessor, Chris Grayling, is not a lawyer. He has made some contentious statements on justice policy, including a call in the late 1990s to bring back hanging and criticism of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry for being marred by “McCarthyism” and bearing the “whiff of Salem”. Another risk of appointing him to justice, given the overlap in their briefs, is the potential for further tension with May, the home secretary, with whom he came to blows over radicalisation in schools.
However, one of Gove’s benefits is that his hawkish, neo-con approach to security is an area where he is appreciated by the Tory right, despite his perceived closeness to both Cameron and George Osborne. That may end up being his biggest asset to No 10 as Cameron seeks to navigate with a wafer-thin Conservative majority and keep his rightwing backbenchers on side over the next five years.
