Gove has gone - hallelujah

[Robert Poste's Child]

I'd like the changes more if they weren't such an obvious PR kneejerk response to the recent criticisms re lack of women on the front bench. Give it six months and they'll slide back to how they were.

[david_carnell]

Alex K Wrote:

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> And one of the most articulate and aggressive

> Conservatives is freed from ministerial work to

> carry battle into the Labour / Liberal / UKIP

> camps.

I'm not sure that's true.

The public dislike Gove based on opinion polling. Sending him to a role where there are no obvious media performance opportunities is a poison-pill and no mistake. He'll still have to compete with the party chair for the "Minister for the Today Programme" role when they just need to put someone up. With no high-profile portfolio to command this new role is a backwater for Gove.

It's not even that powerful or needed in the current government. This isn't Major in 1996 clinging on to a majority of 6. The whips are barely needed. It's a stark message from the PM and one that has the approval of Osborne all over it. Should the Tories lose the next election, it's now down to a two-horse race between him and Teresa May.

[Alex K]

david_carnell Wrote:

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>

> It's not even that powerful or needed in the

> current government. This isn't Major in 1996

> clinging on to a majority of 6. The whips are

> barely needed. It's a stark message from the PM

> and one that has the approval of Osborne all over

> it. Should the Tories lose the next election, it's

> now down to a two-horse race between him and

> Teresa May.

Well argued, and likely true. Thank you.

[Mick Mac]

DC line to Gove this morning might be - we respect what you are doing Michael, but you are not box office, in fact your approach, although effective is losing votes - take a break until after the election and once we win we will bring you back into front line politics with a meaty reward.

Temporary backwater.

[david_carnell]

That's a bloody big IF Mick. And one that Cameron might well not be in a position to offer.

If you were Osborne or May and the newly elected leader of the opposition would you bring back your biggest rival to a top job?

Even if Cameron does win, and stays on as PM, why would he then sack a cabinet team that has won him an election?

[Mick Mac]

david_carnell Wrote:

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> That's a bloody big IF Mick. And one that Cameron

> might well not be in a position to offer.

>

> If you were Osborne or May and the newly elected

> leader of the opposition would you bring back your

> biggest rival to a top job?

>

> Even if Cameron does win, and stays on as PM, why

> would he then sack a cabinet team that has won him

> an election?

I didn't say if, I said once. I'm assuming they will win and I wouldn't be surprised at all by a post election reshuffle.

Obviously if they lose the election, the whole reshuffle today has backfired and all sorts of leaderships options and uncertainties arise.

[Louisa]

The next election is a dead heat as stands, shuffling Gove around and promoting females is opportunistic and in any normal parliament with a one party majority government wouldn't be attempted. This is not that. Cameron knows the party remains toxic to the swing voters, he couldn't even muster a small John Major majority comparable to 1992 at the last election. His options are limited.

Louisa.

[JohnL]

Some saying Cameron doesn't care about the cabinet any longer

He's in electioneering mode - and Gove/Hague are meant to be campaigning.

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> That's a bloody big IF Mick. And one that Cameron

> might well not be in a position to offer.

>

> If you were Osborne or May and the newly elected

> leader of the opposition would you bring back your

> biggest rival to a top job?

>

> Even if Cameron does win, and stays on as PM, why

> would he then sack a cabinet team that has won him

> an election?

[BrandNewGuy]

Labour shows no sign of making the 'breakthrough', so with more voter-friendly women in the Cabinet for a year (without having to push through controversial legislation), plus the referedum promise (to neutralise UKIP, moost of whose Euro voters won't vote for them at the general election) and the economy not tanking between now and then - then the Tories have a good chance of the being the largest party again.

What's going to be fascinating in the case of a hung parliament (still favourite with the bookies) is the post-election horse-trading. The Lib Dems (and even UKIP) wll have learned a lot from the experience of the coalition and will not be pushovers. What odds a minority government struggling through, making ad hoc deals?

[????]

It all looks a bit odd - Gove is one of the best and certainly most radical of them IMO but not especially liked. I think that Mick is probably right on this DC, or at least it part explains. I think Gove is with Cameron's ship so he wants to help keep Cameron in which will require a GE Win whatever . Gove (and Hague) can do a lot more to aid this without significant portfolios....if they are not the next govt by majority or coalition then I think Cameron goes...I also think Osbourne will throw his hat in early. The only odd thing is that Gove isn't a posh boy and whilst that's got nothing to =do with him moving - it is a bit weird given the tories vulnerability on this.

[vgrant]

there seems to be a clearing the decks of older loyal males. Skelingtons in cupboards and all at. It is the age of peadogeddon after all

[Loz]

david_carnell Wrote:

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> It's a stark message from the PM and one that has the approval of Osborne all over it.

I didn't notice, but the Standard has pointed out that most of the beneficiaries of the reshuffle have come from Osbourne's treasury area. It's really strengthened his position. Which is a shame, as I think May would make a rather good PM - at least, compared to Osbourne, anyway.

[david_carnell]

I don't buy the "can do more without portfolios" stuff.

This isn't a government stuffing parliament with legislation. They essentially ran out of stuff to do a year ago (at least they did in my old dept). Neither Gove nor Hague would have been too run off their feet to help with electioneering.

Hague is useful in shoring up the northern, rural votes to protect from UKIP though.

Gove on the other hand is going to do what? Simply be a backroom brain coming up with election strategy? He's hardly the man to send out on the street winning hearts and minds is he? Hmmmm...I think there is more to this than is being let on.

[david_carnell]

Loz Wrote:

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> david_carnell Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > It's a stark message from the PM and one that

> has the approval of Osborne all over it.

>

> I didn't notice, but the Standard has pointed out

> that most of the beneficiaries of the reshuffle

> have come from Osbourne's treasury area. It's

> really strengthened his position. Which is a

> shame, as I think May would make a rather good PM

> - at least, compared to Osbourne, anyway.

Oh yes, the post-2015 GE musical chairs power-play has begun in earnest. May doesn't play the game as well as Osborne but the increase in women will help her somewhat - they may gravitate towards her despite being Osborne-ites.

And it's happening on the opposite bench too with teams forming ready to jump in if and when EdM loses the election. Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umuna will be the early runners but it might depend on whether a clean break from the Blair/Brown era is wanted.

[Otta]

???? Wrote:

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> The fact that many teachers seem to hate him was just

> a bonus as far as I was concerned.

I don't understand why you seem so openly hostile towards teachers. Don't get me wrong, they like a bloody moan, no doubt, but they don't have it easy, and if you think they do, you're crazy.

[david_carnell]

C'mon Otta - they're leftie, liberal, Guardian-reading, smug, metropolitan, middle-class, trade-unionist, hypocritical, anti-modernisers.

;-)

[DulwichVillageLady]

Anyone who couldn't spot the Trojan Horse needs to be gone.

[dbboy]

Somehow I don't think Gove is done yet, as much as people maline him he'll be back as a future PM

[intexasatthe moment]

Just heard him on Radio 4 being grilled by Caroline Quinn ( ? ) - " so you've been demoted ?" ," you've had a salary cut " and bugger ,bugger ,bugger I see what people mean when they say he's charming .

[Otta]

JohnL Wrote:

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> Just saw on twitter

>

> @David_Cameron David Gauke is promoted to

> Financial Secretary to the treasury #reshuffle

>

> @frankieboyle @David_Cameron this is like transfer

> deadlne day for c***s

Haha, just had to share that.

[Bic Basher]

Gove was a disaster at the DoE. However the big scandal is that IDS and Esther McVey are still at the DWP.

[LauraHW]

Rejoice, rejoice Gove has gone. I believe that he is one of the most toxic education secretaries ever to hold the post. I genuinely don't understand why people think that they know better than trained professionals and are quite happy to constantly teacher bash. Why? I'm not a teacher but know of many committed, brilliant teachers that work ridiculous hours for OK pay who are being constantly underminded and belittled by politics in general and the greater public.

As for Gove himself, just familiarise yourselves with the utter debarcle of Sullivan school in Hammersmith and Fulham to find out what happens when you put educational idealism ahead of an actual interest in education. This is in addition to rubber stamping the sale of school playing fields, positively encouraging the setting up of taxfunded faith schools with very dubious creationist values, cancelling the "Building Schools for the Future Programme", scrapping the minimium requirement for physical education in schools and ensuring that local authorities have little or no control over the number of school places in their area. And other hundreds of little measures that have devalued and discredited the teaching profession. Utter knobhead.

[Loz]

Whilst I don't have much comment on the rest of your list, the "Building Schools for the Future Programme" was terrifically poor value for money, badly thought out and pretty much completely funded via PFI.

[Tr?]

I wonder how much of the hate of Gove is down to him looking like he does.

[StraferJack]

see also Miliband