Michael Gove
Encyclopedia
Michael Andrew Gove, MP
(born 26 August 1967) is a British politician, who currently serves as the Secretary of State for Education and as the Conservative Party
Member of Parliament (MP) for the Surrey Heath
constituency. He is also a published author and former journalist.
Born in Edinburgh
, Gove was raised in Aberdeen
and made an early career as a journalist. He was first elected to parliament in the 2005 General Election
, as the MP for the safe
Conservative seat of Surrey Heath
in South East England
. He was first promoted to the shadow cabinet in 2007 under David Cameron
, as the Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
.
After the formation of the coalition government
in 2010, Gove was appointed the Secretary of State for Education.
. At four months old, he was adopted by a Labour
-supporting family in Aberdeen
, where he was brought up. His adoptive father ran a fish processing business
; his mother was a lab assistant at the University of Aberdeen
before working at the Aberdeen School for the Deaf.
He was initially state school educated in Aberdeen, later attending the independent Robert Gordon's College
, to which he won a scholarship. From 1985 to 1988 he studied English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
, where he served as President of the Oxford Union.
Gove was a trainee reporter at the Press and Journal
in Aberdeen
, where he spent several months on strike in a dispute over union recognition and representation. He joined The Times
in 1996 as a leader writer
and has been its comment editor, news editor, Saturday editor and assistant editor. He has also written a weekly column on politics and current affairs for The Times and contributed to the Times Literary Supplement, Prospect magazine and The Spectator
. He has also written a sympathetic biography of Michael Portillo
and a critical study of the Northern Ireland peace process
, The Price of Peace, for which he won the Charles Douglas-Home Prize. Gove was instrumental in the launch of the new centre-right magazine Standpoint
, and serves on its advisory board.
He has worked for the BBC's Today programme
, On The Record, Scottish Television
and the Channel 4 monologue
programme A Stab In The Dark, alongside David Baddiel
and Tracey MacLeod
, and was a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4
's The Moral Maze
and Newsnight Review on BBC Two
.
Gove was a member of the winning team in Grampian Television
's quiz show Top Club
, and played the school chaplain in the 1995 family comedy A Feast at Midnight
.
Young Conservatives. He has helped to write speeches for Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet ministers, including Peter Lilley
and Michael Howard
. When applying for a job at the Conservative Research Department
he was told he was "insufficiently political" and "insufficiently Conservative", consequently he turned to journalism.
Gove was previously chairman of Policy Exchange
, a right-wing think tank
launched in 2002.
in the 2005 general election
as Conservative member for the safe seat of Surrey Heath
.
On 2 July 2007, he was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet
as Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (a new department set up by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown
) shadowing Ed Balls
, a key supporter of Brown . Prior to the 2010 General Election, most of his questions in House of Commons debates concerned children, schools and families, education, local government, Council Tax, Foreign Affairs, and the environment.
In 2008, in an attempt to split the Labour Party
, Gove suggested that senior Blairites who might become isolated should their party move to the left following a general election defeat, could be offered a role in a future Conservative government.
Gove is seen as part of an influential set of young up-and-coming Tories, sometimes referred to as the 'Notting Hill Set
', which includes David Cameron
, George Osborne
, Edward Vaizey
, Nicholas Boles
and Rachel Whetstone
. They are perceived as modernisers on social issues, and humanitarian interventionists in foreign policy. When Cameron was elected leader in December 2005, he appointed Gove the housing spokesman shadowing the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Michael Portillo predicted that Gove will one day lead the Conservative party.
into academies, and cut the previous Government's school building programme. He was forced to apologise, however, when the list of terminated school building projects he had released was found to be inaccurate.
In July 2010, Gove said that Labour had failed in its attempt to break the link between social class and school achievement despite spending billions of pounds. Quoting research, he indicated that by the age of 6, children of low ability from affluent homes were still out-performing brighter children from poor backgrounds. In a Commons Education Select Committee he said that this separation of achievement grew larger throughout pupils' school careers, stating, "In effect, rich thick kids do better than poor clever children when they arrive at school [and] the situation as they go through gets worse,".
During the 2010 Conservative Party Conference, Gove announced that school curriculum would be restructured, and that study of authors such as Byron, Keats, Jane Austen
, Dickens and Thomas Hardy
would be reintroduced to English lessons as part of a plan to improve children’s grasp of English literature and language. Children who fail to write coherently and grammatically, and who are weak in spelling, would be penalised under new examinations. Historian Simon Schama
would give advice to government to ensure that pupils learnt Britain’s "island story". Standards in mathematics and science would also be strengthened. He explained that this was needed because left-wing ideologues had undermined education. Theirs was the view, he thought, that schools "shouldn’t be doing anything so old-fashioned as passing on knowledge, requiring children to work hard, or immersing them in anything like dates in history or times tables in mathematics. These ideologues may have been inspired by generous ideals but the result of their approach has been countless children condemned to a prison house of ignorance."
In a November 2010 White paper
, Gove declared reforms would include the compulsory study of foreign languages up to the age of 16, and a shake-up of league tables in which schools are ranked higher for the number of pupils taking GCSEs in five core subjects: English; mathematics; science; a language; and one of the humanities. He also announced that experts such as historian Simon Schama
will be brought in to review the curriculum, and that targets are to be introduced for primary schools for the first time. Additionally, trainee teachers will spend more time in the classroom, there would be more assessment of teacher training applicants—including tests of character and emotional intelligence—and former troops will be offered sponsorship to retrain as teachers to improve discipline. Teachers are also expected to receive guidance on how to search pupils for more items, including mobile phones and pornography, and when they can use force.
In December 2010, in an article in the Daily Telegraph, he claimed that "Like Chairman Mao
, we’ve embarked on a Long March to reform our education system", apparently unaware that Mao's cultural revolution
closed China's education system for ten years and led to the deaths of many teachers. Though at the time of the Long March Mao (originally a teacher himself) was making vast improvements to educational structures wherever he went.
In February 2011 a Judicial Review
deemed his decision to axe Building Schools for the Future
(BSF) projects in six local authority areas was unlawful as he had failed to consult before imposing the cuts. The judge also said that in five of the cases, the failure was "so unfair as to amount to an abuse of power" and that "however pressing the economic problems, there was no overriding public interest which precluded consultation or justifies the lack of any consultation". The Government will have to reconsider but it said it had won the case on substantial issues.
In March 2011 Gove was criticised for not understanding the importance of school architecture and having previously misrepresented the cost. In February 2011, he gave "not-quite-true information to Parliament" by saying that one individual made £1m in one year when the true figure was £700k for 5 advisers at different times over a 4 year period.
He told a Free Schools conference that 'no one in this room is here to make architects richer' and specifically mentioned architect Richard Rogers
.
In April 2011 Gove criticised schools for not studying pre-20th century classics and blamed “England’s constricted and unreformed exam system” for failing to encourage children to read. Gove also blamed an “anti knowledge culture” for reducing achievement and said children benefited when expectations were set higher.
is a nonsense", a reference to an enactment that prevented local authorities from providing funding for the positive portrayal of homosexuality, indicating a willingness to permit the expansion of the role of the state. He shared a flat with Conservative Ivan Massow
who later defected to Labour over Section 28 and Nicholas Boles
, and said "The only sustainable ethical foundation for society is a belief in the innate worth and dignity of every individual."
, to be managed by parents and funded by the state.
and stated in October 2004 of Tony Blair
: "I can't hold it back any more; I love Tony!" He is a signatory of the Henry Jackson Society
, which advocates an active approach to the spread of democracy, and an adviser to the Atlantic Bridge
, which works to affirm the Transatlantic alliance.
He was a proponent of the view that the invasion of Iraq would bring peace and democracy both to Iraq and the wider Middle East. In December 2008 Gove wrote that declarations of either victory or defeat in Iraq in 2003 were premature, and with the benefit of hindsight "The liberation of Iraq has actually been that rarest of things – a proper British foreign policy success. Next year, while the world goes into recession, Iraq is likely to enjoy 10% GDP growth. Alone in the Arab Middle East, it is now a fully functioning democracy with a free press, properly contested elections and an independent judiciary ... Sunni and Shia contend for power in parliament, not in street battles. The ingenuity, idealism and intelligence of the Iraqi people can now find an outlet in a free society rather than being deployed, as they were for decades, simply to ensure survival in a fascist republic that stank of fear.
"
He has been accused of harbouring hostile attitude towards Islam and Muslims after his book Celsius 7/7
, despite distinguishing between 'the great historical faith' of Islam which he claims has 'brought spiritual nourishment to millions', and Islamism, a 'totalitarian ideolog[y]' which turns to 'hellish violence and oppression' like the 20th century ideologies of National Socialism and Communism.
He has mourned the First World War as a great tragedy, in which not only did millions die, but the old, largely liberal, tolerant and materially progressive order perished.
(a philosopher who commented on organic society and the French Revolution
) was the greatest conservative ever.
Asked about those who believe 'Marx was right all along', he argued that Marxists were guilty of ignoring the systematic abuses and poverty of centrally planned economies, and criticised Eric Hobsbawm
, saying that "only when Hobsbawm weeps hot tears for a life spent serving an ideology of wickedness will he ever be worth listening to."
, he now worships in the Church of England
, and regularly attends St Mary Abbots
church, Kensington, London.
Gove's wealth is estimated at £1 million.
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Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(born 26 August 1967) is a British politician, who currently serves as the Secretary of State for Education and as the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament (MP) for the Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath (UK Parliament constituency)
Surrey Heath is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. Since the 2005 general election the MP has been Michael Gove, a senior figure in the Conservative Party...
constituency. He is also a published author and former journalist.
Born in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Gove was raised in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
and made an early career as a journalist. He was first elected to parliament in the 2005 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, as the MP for the safe
Safe seat
A safe seat is a seat in a legislative body which is regarded as fully secured, either by a certain political party, the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both...
Conservative seat of Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath (UK Parliament constituency)
Surrey Heath is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. Since the 2005 general election the MP has been Michael Gove, a senior figure in the Conservative Party...
in South East England
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
. He was first promoted to the shadow cabinet in 2007 under David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
, as the Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families is a Cabinet minister in the United Kingdom. The post was created on 28 June 2007 after the disbanding of the Department for Education and Skills by Gordon Brown. The first Secretary of State was Ed Balls, a former treasury aide to Brown...
.
After the formation of the coalition government
United Kingdom coalition government (2010–present)
The ConservativeLiberal Democrat coalition is the present Government of the United Kingdom, formed after the 2010 general election. The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats entered into discussions which culminated in the 2010 coalition agreement, setting out a programme for government...
in 2010, Gove was appointed the Secretary of State for Education.
Early life and career outside Parliament
Gove was born in EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. At four months old, he was adopted by a Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
-supporting family in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, where he was brought up. His adoptive father ran a fish processing business
Fishing industry in Scotland
The fishing industry in Scotland comprises a significant proportion of the United Kingdom fishing industry. A recent inquiry by the Royal Society of Edinburgh found fishing to be of much greater social, economic and cultural importance to Scotland than to the rest of the UK. Scotland has just...
; his mother was a lab assistant at the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
before working at the Aberdeen School for the Deaf.
He was initially state school educated in Aberdeen, later attending the independent Robert Gordon's College
Robert Gordon's College
Robert Gordon's College is a private co-educational day school in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery-S6.-History:...
, to which he won a scholarship. From 1985 to 1988 he studied English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located at the end of Norham Gardens in north Oxford. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £34m....
, where he served as President of the Oxford Union.
Gove was a trainee reporter at the Press and Journal
Press and Journal
The Press and Journal may refer to:*The Press and Journal , established in 1748, serving the northern regions of Scotland*Press and Journal , established in 1874, serving central Pennsylvania in the United States...
in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, where he spent several months on strike in a dispute over union recognition and representation. He joined The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in 1996 as a leader writer
Leader writer
A Leader Writer is a senior journalist in a British newspaper who is charged with writing the paper's editorial either in the absence of the editor or in cases where the editor chooses not to write editorials because their editorial skills may rest more in management of the company than in writing...
and has been its comment editor, news editor, Saturday editor and assistant editor. He has also written a weekly column on politics and current affairs for The Times and contributed to the Times Literary Supplement, Prospect magazine and The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
. He has also written a sympathetic biography of Michael Portillo
Michael Portillo
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister...
and a critical study of the Northern Ireland peace process
Northern Ireland peace process
The peace process, when discussing the history of Northern Ireland, is often considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Belfast Agreement, and subsequent political developments.-Towards a...
, The Price of Peace, for which he won the Charles Douglas-Home Prize. Gove was instrumental in the launch of the new centre-right magazine Standpoint
Standpoint (magazine)
Standpoint is a monthly British cultural and political magazine. Its premier issue was published at the end of May 2008 – the first launch of a major current affairs publication in the UK in more than a decade....
, and serves on its advisory board.
He has worked for the BBC's Today programme
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
, On The Record, Scottish Television
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
and the Channel 4 monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
programme A Stab In The Dark, alongside David Baddiel
David Baddiel
David Lionel Baddiel is an English comedian, novelist and television presenter.-Early life:Baddiel was born in New York, and moved to England when he was four months old. His father, Colin Brian Baddiel, was a Welsh research chemist with Unilever before being made redundant in the 1980s, after...
and Tracey MacLeod
Tracey MacLeod
Tracey MacLeod is a journalist and broadcaster who has presented a range of BBC arts and music programming, including The Late Show 1989-95 and its musical offshoots New West and Words and Music, Edinburgh Nights The Booker Prize and The Mercury Music Prize...
, and was a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's The Moral Maze
The Moral Maze
The Moral Maze is a radio programme on BBC Radio 4, broadcast since 1990.-Structure:Four regular panellists discuss moral and ethical issues relating to a recent news story. The debate is often combative and guest witnesses may be cross-examined aggressively. The programme is hosted by Michael Buerk...
and Newsnight Review on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
.
Gove was a member of the winning team in Grampian Television
Grampian Television
Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife...
's quiz show Top Club
Top Club
Top Club was a Scottish regional television game show produced and broadcast by Grampian Television between 1971 and 1998. During the mids 1970s a spin off called Top team was also aired....
, and played the school chaplain in the 1995 family comedy A Feast at Midnight
A Feast at Midnight
A Feast at Midnight is a 1995 British comedy family film directed by Justin Hardy and starring Freddie Findlay, Samuel West, Robert Hardy, Christopher Lee and Edward Fox...
.
Political career
Gove joined the Conservative Party at university and was secretary of Aberdeen SouthAberdeen South (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeen South is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
Young Conservatives. He has helped to write speeches for Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet ministers, including Peter Lilley
Peter Lilley
Peter Bruce Lilley MP is a British Conservative Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament MP since 1983. He currently represents the constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden and, prior to boundary changes, represented St Albans...
and Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
. When applying for a job at the Conservative Research Department
Conservative Research Department
The Conservative Research Department is part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom. It operates alongside other departments of Conservative Campaign Headquarters at 30 Millbank, London SW1....
he was told he was "insufficiently political" and "insufficiently Conservative", consequently he turned to journalism.
Gove was previously chairman of Policy Exchange
Policy Exchange
Policy Exchange is a British conservative think tank based in London. The Daily Telegraph has described it as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right"...
, a right-wing think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
launched in 2002.
Member of Parliament
Gove entered ParliamentParliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
in the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
as Conservative member for the safe seat of Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath is a local government district with Borough status in Surrey, England. Its Council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt....
.
On 2 July 2007, he was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
as Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (a new department set up by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
) shadowing Ed Balls
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls, known as Ed Balls, is a British Labour politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 2005, currently for Morley and Outwood, and is the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer....
, a key supporter of Brown . Prior to the 2010 General Election, most of his questions in House of Commons debates concerned children, schools and families, education, local government, Council Tax, Foreign Affairs, and the environment.
In 2008, in an attempt to split the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, Gove suggested that senior Blairites who might become isolated should their party move to the left following a general election defeat, could be offered a role in a future Conservative government.
Gove is seen as part of an influential set of young up-and-coming Tories, sometimes referred to as the 'Notting Hill Set
Notting Hill Set
The Notting Hill Set is an informal group of young figures in prominent leadership positions in the Conservative Party, or close advisory positions around the current party leader and Prime Minister, David Cameron....
', which includes David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
, George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
, Edward Vaizey
Edward Vaizey
Edward Henry Butler Vaizey is the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries in the UK, a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State post with responsibilities in both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills .He was elected...
, Nicholas Boles
Nicholas Boles
Nicholas Edward Coleridge "Nick" Boles is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the Grantham and Stamford constituency in Lincolnshire...
and Rachel Whetstone
Rachel Whetstone
Rachel Whetstone was Political Secretary to former Conservative leader, Michael Howard. She is now global head of communications and public policy for search-engine company Google....
. They are perceived as modernisers on social issues, and humanitarian interventionists in foreign policy. When Cameron was elected leader in December 2005, he appointed Gove the housing spokesman shadowing the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Michael Portillo predicted that Gove will one day lead the Conservative party.
Secretary of State for Education
Gove is the current Secretary of State for Education. Following his appointment in May 2010, he rebranded his department, announced plans to convert schools rated as 'outstanding' by OfstedOfsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
into academies, and cut the previous Government's school building programme. He was forced to apologise, however, when the list of terminated school building projects he had released was found to be inaccurate.
In July 2010, Gove said that Labour had failed in its attempt to break the link between social class and school achievement despite spending billions of pounds. Quoting research, he indicated that by the age of 6, children of low ability from affluent homes were still out-performing brighter children from poor backgrounds. In a Commons Education Select Committee he said that this separation of achievement grew larger throughout pupils' school careers, stating, "In effect, rich thick kids do better than poor clever children when they arrive at school [and] the situation as they go through gets worse,".
During the 2010 Conservative Party Conference, Gove announced that school curriculum would be restructured, and that study of authors such as Byron, Keats, Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
, Dickens and Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
would be reintroduced to English lessons as part of a plan to improve children’s grasp of English literature and language. Children who fail to write coherently and grammatically, and who are weak in spelling, would be penalised under new examinations. Historian Simon Schama
Simon Schama
Simon Michael Schama, CBE is a British historian and art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain...
would give advice to government to ensure that pupils learnt Britain’s "island story". Standards in mathematics and science would also be strengthened. He explained that this was needed because left-wing ideologues had undermined education. Theirs was the view, he thought, that schools "shouldn’t be doing anything so old-fashioned as passing on knowledge, requiring children to work hard, or immersing them in anything like dates in history or times tables in mathematics. These ideologues may have been inspired by generous ideals but the result of their approach has been countless children condemned to a prison house of ignorance."
In a November 2010 White paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
, Gove declared reforms would include the compulsory study of foreign languages up to the age of 16, and a shake-up of league tables in which schools are ranked higher for the number of pupils taking GCSEs in five core subjects: English; mathematics; science; a language; and one of the humanities. He also announced that experts such as historian Simon Schama
Simon Schama
Simon Michael Schama, CBE is a British historian and art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain...
will be brought in to review the curriculum, and that targets are to be introduced for primary schools for the first time. Additionally, trainee teachers will spend more time in the classroom, there would be more assessment of teacher training applicants—including tests of character and emotional intelligence—and former troops will be offered sponsorship to retrain as teachers to improve discipline. Teachers are also expected to receive guidance on how to search pupils for more items, including mobile phones and pornography, and when they can use force.
In December 2010, in an article in the Daily Telegraph, he claimed that "Like Chairman Mao
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
, we’ve embarked on a Long March to reform our education system", apparently unaware that Mao's cultural revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
closed China's education system for ten years and led to the deaths of many teachers. Though at the time of the Long March Mao (originally a teacher himself) was making vast improvements to educational structures wherever he went.
In February 2011 a Judicial Review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
deemed his decision to axe Building Schools for the Future
Building Schools for the Future
Building Schools for the Future is the name of the previous UK Government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England. The program is very ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicians from all English political parties supportive of the principle but...
(BSF) projects in six local authority areas was unlawful as he had failed to consult before imposing the cuts. The judge also said that in five of the cases, the failure was "so unfair as to amount to an abuse of power" and that "however pressing the economic problems, there was no overriding public interest which precluded consultation or justifies the lack of any consultation". The Government will have to reconsider but it said it had won the case on substantial issues.
In March 2011 Gove was criticised for not understanding the importance of school architecture and having previously misrepresented the cost. In February 2011, he gave "not-quite-true information to Parliament" by saying that one individual made £1m in one year when the true figure was £700k for 5 advisers at different times over a 4 year period.
He told a Free Schools conference that 'no one in this room is here to make architects richer' and specifically mentioned architect Richard Rogers
Richard Rogers
Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside CH Kt FRIBA FCSD is a British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs....
.
In April 2011 Gove criticised schools for not studying pre-20th century classics and blamed “England’s constricted and unreformed exam system” for failing to encourage children to read. Gove also blamed an “anti knowledge culture” for reducing achievement and said children benefited when expectations were set higher.
Expenses claims
Michael Gove reportedly claimed £7,000 for furnishing a London property before 'flipping' his designated second home to a house in his constituency, a property for which he claimed around £13,000 to cover stamp duty. Around a third of the first £7,000 was spent at an interior design company owned by Gove's mother-in-law. Gove also claimed for a cot mattress, despite children's items being banned under the Commons rule. Gove said he would repay the claim for the cot mattress, but maintained that his other claims were "below the acceptable threshold costs for furniture" and that the property flipping was necessary "to effectively discharge my parliamentary duties". While he was moving between homes, he stayed at the Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa, charging the taxpayer more than £500 per night's stay.Unionism
Michael Gove is a Scot who believes that Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom because Scotland's strengths complement those of other parts of the UK.Liberty
Gove has expressed views that the state should not generally interfere in domestic affairs. He purported to campaign for personal freedom in certain matters, opposing the introduction of ID cards under the Identity Cards Act 2006, and wrote that "Section 28Section 28
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the controversial addition of Section 2A to the Local Government Act 1986 , enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of Great Britain by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003...
is a nonsense", a reference to an enactment that prevented local authorities from providing funding for the positive portrayal of homosexuality, indicating a willingness to permit the expansion of the role of the state. He shared a flat with Conservative Ivan Massow
Ivan Massow
Ivan Massow is a British entrepreneur and financial adviser. He founded PayMeMy.com in September 2011; a service which pays back 'trail' commissions - often thousands of pounds a year - to policy-holders themselves, instead of the IFAs who originally set the policies up.Ivan was also Chairman of...
who later defected to Labour over Section 28 and Nicholas Boles
Nicholas Boles
Nicholas Edward Coleridge "Nick" Boles is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the Grantham and Stamford constituency in Lincolnshire...
, and said "The only sustainable ethical foundation for society is a belief in the innate worth and dignity of every individual."
Education
As Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, he advocated the introduction of a Swedish-style voucher system, whereby parents can choose where their child should be educated, with the state paying what they would have cost in a state-school. He has also advocated Swedish style "free schools"Free school (England)
A Free school is a school in England funded by the taxpayer, non-selective and free to attend but not controlled by local authorities. The concept of free schools is based upon a similar model found in Sweden as well as US charter schools....
, to be managed by parents and funded by the state.
Foreign policy
Considered by some to be a British neo-conservative, he called for early intervention against Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
and stated in October 2004 of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
: "I can't hold it back any more; I love Tony!" He is a signatory of the Henry Jackson Society
Henry Jackson Society
The Henry Jackson Society is a non-partisan association. The society's goals include the promotion of "democratic geopolitics". The society is named after after Henry M. Jackson, the late Democratic Senator from Washington State...
, which advocates an active approach to the spread of democracy, and an adviser to the Atlantic Bridge
The Atlantic Bridge
The Atlantic Bridge Research and Education Scheme was an educational charity founded in 1997 with Margaret Thatcher as its President to promote Atlanticism, a philosophy of cooperation between the United Kingdom and the United States regarding political, economic, and defense issues. It was set up...
, which works to affirm the Transatlantic alliance.
He was a proponent of the view that the invasion of Iraq would bring peace and democracy both to Iraq and the wider Middle East. In December 2008 Gove wrote that declarations of either victory or defeat in Iraq in 2003 were premature, and with the benefit of hindsight "The liberation of Iraq has actually been that rarest of things – a proper British foreign policy success. Next year, while the world goes into recession, Iraq is likely to enjoy 10% GDP growth. Alone in the Arab Middle East, it is now a fully functioning democracy with a free press, properly contested elections and an independent judiciary ... Sunni and Shia contend for power in parliament, not in street battles. The ingenuity, idealism and intelligence of the Iraqi people can now find an outlet in a free society rather than being deployed, as they were for decades, simply to ensure survival in a fascist republic that stank of fear.
"
He has been accused of harbouring hostile attitude towards Islam and Muslims after his book Celsius 7/7
Celsius 7/7
Celsius 7/7 , published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on 29 June 2006, is a study of the roots of Islamic terrorism by British Conservative MP Michael Gove.-Summary:...
, despite distinguishing between 'the great historical faith' of Islam which he claims has 'brought spiritual nourishment to millions', and Islamism, a 'totalitarian ideolog[y]' which turns to 'hellish violence and oppression' like the 20th century ideologies of National Socialism and Communism.
He has mourned the First World War as a great tragedy, in which not only did millions die, but the old, largely liberal, tolerant and materially progressive order perished.
Political philosophy
During the 2008 Conservative Party Conference, he argued that Edmund BurkeEdmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
(a philosopher who commented on organic society and the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
) was the greatest conservative ever.
Asked about those who believe 'Marx was right all along', he argued that Marxists were guilty of ignoring the systematic abuses and poverty of centrally planned economies, and criticised Eric Hobsbawm
Eric Hobsbawm
Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm , CH, FBA, is a British Marxist historian, public intellectual, and author...
, saying that "only when Hobsbawm weeps hot tears for a life spent serving an ideology of wickedness will he ever be worth listening to."
Personal life
Gove is married to Sarah Vine, a writer on The Times; they have a daughter and son. Having been raised in the Church of ScotlandChurch of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
, he now worships in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, and regularly attends St Mary Abbots
St Mary Abbots
St Mary Abbots is an historic church located on Kensington High Street , London at a prominent intersection with Kensington Church Street. The present church was built in 1872 by the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott in neo-Gothic Early English style. It was the latest in a succession of churches...
church, Kensington, London.
Gove's wealth is estimated at £1 million.
External links
- Michael Gove MP Official Website
- Profile at the Conservative Party
- Column archives in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- Profile from The EconomistThe EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
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