Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
It is no exaggeration to say that Michael Gove’s retirement from frontline leadership is a symbolic moment for the Conservative party.
The 56-year-old is both loved and hated by people in his own party (and the country at large), but he is one of the few people within the Conservative Party who can now point to a significant political legacy he leaves behind.
Mr Gove is regarded across Westminster as one of the great reformers of the past 14 years of Conservative-led governments, having brought about major reforms to England’s school system, led a highly controversial Brexit vote and thwarted Boris Johnson’s first bid to become prime minister.
Charged by his one-time close friend David Cameron, a member of the so-called “Notting Hill set”, to overhaul the country’s schools, Mr Gove took up the task with evangelist zeal.
He removed secondary schools wholesale from local authority control, converting more than half of them to academy status, and abolished the curriculum and assessment system, seeking to bring standards in England closer to those of the best-performing countries in Europe and East Asia.
After waging a battle with teachers’ unions, he was eventually fired by Prime Minister Cameron, then betrayed him by choosing to campaign to leave the European Union, destroying his relationship with the then Prime Minister.
He then betrayed his great campaign partner Johnson, declaring him unfit for the office of Prime Minister.
That decision has stayed with him ever since, and he has been seen as an internal enemy by many Conservative MPs, but his talent for tackling the toughest policy issues has meant he has rarely been out of cabinet for long.
After nearly a decade in Parliament under four prime ministers and nearly 20 years as an MP, the Surrey Heath MP has decided to end his political career.
In truth, his defeat was already clear: his green constituency is seen as a top target for the Liberal Democrats, who believe they can make a big dent in the Conservatives’ blue wall Home Counties seat.
Whether he manages to retain his constituency may never be known, but his departure would clearly be a major blow to Rishi Sunak.