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Michael Gove
Official Portrait
Secretary of State for Education
Assumed office
12 May 2010
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byEd Balls (Children, Schools and Families)
Shadow Secretary of State for
Children, Schools and Families
In office
2 July 2007 – 11 May 2010
LeaderDavid Cameron
Preceded byDavid Willetts
Succeeded byEd Balls (Education)
Member of Parliament
for Surrey Heath
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded byNick Hawkins
Majority17,289 (31.8%)
Personal details
Born (1967-08-26) 26 August 1967 (age 57)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Political partyConservative
SpouseSarah Vine
Children2
Alma materLady Margaret Hall, Oxford
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionJournalist

Michael Andrew Gove (born 26 August 1967) is a British Conservative Party politician, who is the Secretary of State for Education and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Surrey Heath. He is also an author and a former journalist for The Times newspaper.[1]

Born in Edinburgh, Gove was raised in Aberdeen and began his career as a journalist. He was first elected to Parliament in 2005 for the safe Conservative seat of Surrey Heath in South East England. He was later promoted to the Shadow Cabinet in 2007 as the Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. After the formation of the Coalition Government in 2010, Gove was appointed as the Secretary of State for Education.[2]

Early life and career outside Parliament

Gove was born in Edinburgh, but at four months old he was adopted by a Labour-supporting family in Aberdeen, where he was brought up.[3] His 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.[4]

He was initially state school educated in Aberdeen, later attending the independent Robert Gordon's College, to which he won a scholarship.[3] From 1985 to 1988 he studied English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford,[5] where he served as President of the Oxford Union. He was awarded a 2:1-degree.[6]

Gove became 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.[7] 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 remains on good terms with Rupert Murdoch.[1] 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.[5] Gove was instrumental in the launch of the new centre-right magazine Standpoint, and serves on its advisory board.[citation needed]

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.[4]

Gove was a member of the winning team in Grampian Television's quiz show Top Club,[citation needed] and played the school chaplain in the 1995 family comedy A Feast at Midnight.[8]

Political career

Gove joined the Conservative Party at university and was secretary of Aberdeen South Young Conservatives.[citation needed] He helped to write speeches for Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet ministers, including Peter Lilley and Michael Howard.[citation needed] When applying for a job at the Conservative Research Department he was told he was "insufficiently political" and "insufficiently Conservative", so he turned to journalism.[citation needed]

Gove had been chairman of Policy Exchange, a conservative think tank launched in 2002. [9]

Member of Parliament

Gove entered Parliament in the 2005 general election as Conservative member for the safe seat of Surrey Heath, after the incumbent MP Nick Hawkins was deselected by the local Conservative Association.[10][11]

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 then Prime Minister Gordon Brown) shadowing Ed Balls. 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.[12]

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.[13]

Gove is seen as part of an influential set of Tories, sometimes referred to as the 'Notting Hill Set', which includes David Cameron, George Osborne, Edward Vaizey, Nicholas Boles and Rachel Whetstone.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] Michael Portillo predicted that Gove would one day lead the Conservative party.[citation needed]

Ministerial positions

Gove is the current Secretary of State for Education. Following his appointment in May 2010, he rebranded his department,[14] announced plans to allow schools rated as 'outstanding' by Ofsted to convert into academies,[15] and cut the previous Government's school-building programme.[16] He was forced to apologise, however, when the list of terminated school-building projects he had released was found to be inaccurate. The list was reannounced several times before it was finally accurately published.[17]

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,".[18]

Building Schools for the Future and School Capital Projects

In February 2011 a judicial review deemed Gove's 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.[19] 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".[19] The Councils' response was that the government would have to reconsider but the government said it had won the case on the substantial issues.[19] The judge made clear that, contrary to the councils' position, they could not expect that their projects would be funded.[19]

In March 2011 Gove was criticised for not understanding the importance of school architecture and having previously misrepresented the cost.[20] 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.[20] He told a Free Schools conference that 'no one in this room is here to make architects richer' and specifically mentioned architect Richard Rogers.[21]

Exam and curriculum reforms

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."[22]

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[citation needed] 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.[23]

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.[24] In June 2011 his "ignorance of science" was criticised after he called for students to have "a rooting in the basic scientific principles" and by way of example assigned Lord Kelvin's laws of thermodynamics to Sir Isaac Newton.[25]

In June 2012, the Daily Mail, revealed leaked plans to scrap GCSE examinations, return to O level exams and allow less able students to take less difficult qualifications. The plans had not been discussed with the Deputy Prime Minister or the Liberal Democrats and were subsequently heavily criticised by some teachers, trade unions and Labour Party MPs.[26][27][28] They had been discussed with the Prime Minister and a subsequent YouGov/Sunday Times poll suggested that the public supported the policy by a margin of 50% to 32%.[29][30] They also received widespread praise from senior Conservative figures, including the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who said that he "could be...singing a hymn of praises for my old chum Gove and his brilliant new Gove-levels."[31] The leaked documents also suggested that Gove was intending to create a single exam board to organise all exams, and to scrap the National Curriculum in its current form. However there were "rebukes" from both the Welsh and Northern Ireland Education ministers who said it was important to communicate before making announcements on proposed changes to jointly owned qualifications.[32]

King James Bible

In 2011 Gove planned to provide each school in the United Kingdom with a copy of the King James Bible, each inscribed "presented by the Secretary of State for Education" to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its translation into English.[33][34][35] Gove described the King James as "the most important book in the English language" and insisted that every student should have the opportunity to appreciate its literary riches.[35] The project ran into difficulty when the education secretary was required to find private funding to complete it.[34][35] Private sponsors paid for the Bibles, which were distributed in June 2012. The Guardian quoted unnamed head teachers as being critical of the project,[36] but the initiative did receive support from across the spectrum, including from Richard Dawkins.[37]

Leveson Inquiry

In May 2012 Gove, giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry warned Lord Justice Leveson "the cure might be worse than the disease", advising the judge against too much extra regulation on the press. The former journalist, added that some cases of press misbehaviour were “deplorable” but argued that these could be punished under existing laws, such as defamation. Gove himself was a former News International Journalist.[38]

2012 English GCSE results

In September 2012, following the furore surrounding the downgrading of GCSE English results, he refused[39] to instruct Ofqual to intervene, and attacked his Welsh counterpart as "irresponsible and mistaken" for ordering disputed GCSEs to be regraded.[40] On 17 September he announced to the House at 16.30 an English Baccalaureate Certificate to replace GCSE, comprising English, Maths, Science, together with a Humanities subject and language, to be first examined in 2017. His plans to replace GCSE examinations with an English Baccalaureate were rejected by Parliament in February 2013.

Education Vouchers

As Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Gove 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, to be managed by parents and funded by the state,[41] with the possibility that such schools may be allowed to be run on a for-profit model.[42]

Creationist Schools

In June 2012, Gove approved three schools run by creationists leading to concerns about whether Department for Education requirements not to teach creationism or intelligent design as a scientific fact would be met.[43] Grindon Hall Christian school in Sunderland due to open in September 2012 said their website which said it would teach creationism as science was out of date.[43] Exemplar-Newark Business academy whose previous application was rejected because of concerns over creationism and a third school in Kent both said they would teach creationism in RE but not in Science.[43] The British Humanist Society said teaching creationism in any syllabus was unacceptable.[43]

BNP membership amongst teachers

As Education Secretary Gove has stated that schools should have the power to dismiss teachers for being members of the British National Party (BNP). He told the Guardian: "I don't believe that membership of the BNP is compatible with being a teacher. One of the things I plan to do is to allow headteachers and governing bodies the powers and confidence to be able to dismiss teachers engaging in extremist activity".[44]

Expenses claims

Michael Gove claimed £7,000 for furnishing a London property before reportedly 'flipping' his designated second home, a property for which he claimed around £13,000 to cover stamp duty.[45] 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 moving house was necessary "to effectively discharge my parliamentary duties".[45] While he was moving between homes, on one occasion he stayed at the Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa following a constituency engagement, charging the taxpayer more than £500 per night's stay.[45]

Gove's second home was not in his constituency, but in Elstead, in the South West Surrey Constituency. Gove subsequently sold the house and now has no base in or near his constituency.[46]

Freedom of Information and email

Gove has been the subject of repeated criticism for alleged attempts to avoid the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. The criticism surrounds Gove's use of various private e-mail accounts to send e-mails which are claimed to relate to his departmental responsibilities. The allegations suggest that Mr Gove and his advisers believed they could avoid their correspondence being subject to Freedom of Information Requests, as they believed that their private e-mail accounts were not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. In September 2011, the Financial Times reported that Gove had used an undisclosed private email account – called "Mrs Blurt" – to discuss government business with advisers.[47][48] In March 2012 the Information Commissioner ruled that because e-mails the Financial Times had requested contained public information they could be the subject of a Freedom of Information request and ordered the information requested by the paper to be disclosed.[49][50] Gove was also advised to cease the practice of using private e-mail accounts to conduct government business.Gove disputed the Information Commissioner's ruling and proceeded to tribunal, however the appeal was subsequently withdrawn.[51]

It was also alleged that Gove and his advisors had destroyed e-mail correspondence in order to avoid Freedom of Information requests. The allegation was denied by Gove's department who stated that deleting e-mail was simply part of good computer housekeeping.[52]

Twitter smear attacks on opponents controversy

In February 2013 The Guardian launched investigations into connections between Gove's ministerial advisers and what they described as "allegations that members of his department have used the social networking site Twitter to launch highly personal attacks on journalists and political opponents and to conduct a Tory propaganda campaign paid for by the taxpayer."[53] [54] The article suggested that an anonymous Twitter account called @toryeducation was used regularly used to attack critical stories about both Gove and his department and to launch highly personal attacks on opponents of Gove and his policies.[54]

It was further suggested that the knowledge of imminent but unpublished government policy demonstrated by the Twitter account called @toryeducation indicated that it was very likely to come from within the Education Department, implying the involvement of special advisers paid for by tax payers.[53][54] Issuing party political material and indulging in personal attacks would both be clear breaches of the special advisers' code and the civil service code.[54]

Teachers' union vote of no confidence

In April 2013, the NUT unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in Gove, the first time in its history that it performed such an action.

The audience at the NUT conference in Liverpool were told that Gove had "lost the confidence of the teaching profession … [and] failed to conduct his duties in a manner befitting the head of a national education system" and that he had "chosen to base policy on dogma, political rhetoric and his own limited experience of education"

This has led to calls to resign from numerous teachers, with assembled teachers at the NUT conference chanting "Gove must go".

Gove had previously infuriated teachers when he asserted that the NUT "resented the recognition of excellence" and "hate academy schools because heads in those schools put the needs of children ahead of the demands of shop stewards". [55]

Political views

Political philosophy

Gove has expressed his view that the state should generally not interfere in domestic affairs and attests to have campaigned for personal freedom in certain matters. He opposed the 2006 act to introduce identity cards and called Section 28, "a nonsense".[56] Gove has argued that "the only sustainable ethical foundation for society is a belief in the innate worth and dignity of every individual."[57] Giving evidence before the Leveson Inquiry in May 2012, Gove said he was "unashamedly on the side of those who say that we should think very carefully before legislation and regulation because the cry 'Something must be done' often leads to people doing something which isn't always wise."[58]

During the 2008 Conservative Party Conference, Gove argued that Edmund Burke, an eighteenth-century philosopher who commented on organic society and the French Revolution, was the greatest conservative ever. When asked about those who believe 'Marx was right all along', he responded that they 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."[59]

Foreign policy

Gove proposed that the invasion of Iraq would bring peace and democracy both to Iraq and the wider Middle East. In December 2008, he wrote that declarations of either victory or defeat in Iraq in 2003 were premature, and that the liberation of Iraq was a foreign policy success.[60]

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.

— Michael Gove, Michael Gove: Triumph of freedom over evil[60]

Michael Gove has described himself as "a proud Zionist",[61] and supports the United Jewish Israel Appeal's fundraising activities.[62]

Gove has been accused of harbouring hostile attitude towards Islam after the publications of his book Celsius 7/7,[63] though he distinguishes 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.[64]

Gove has mourned the First World War as a great tragedy, which caused not only widespread death, but also the perishing of the old liberal, tolerant and materially progressive order.[65]

Other views

Gove's proposal for a new Royal Yacht costing £60m were made public in January 2012.[66] Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg criticised the idea, calling it “a case of the haves and the have yachts".[67] Michael Gove believes that Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom, arguing that Scotland's strengths complement those of other parts of the UK.[68] Gove does not believe that the United States' "current position in the world is analogous to that of an Imperial power, as we have come to understand imperial powers". While deeply critical of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Gove believes that "there have also been more benign empires, and in that I would include almost pre-eminently, the British."[69]

Religious views

Having been raised in the Church of Scotland, Gove now worships in the Church of England, and regularly attends St Mary Abbots[70] church, Kensington, London. He stated he is a Christian and proud of it at a talk to pupils at Westminster School in 2012. He has commented on the condition of the church in Scotland.[71]

Personal life

Gove attended Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen, where he was far from an exemplary pupil, and in recent years has written letters of apology to his former teachers for his conduct.[72]

Gove is married to Sarah Vine, who has been a writer for The Times.[73] His wealth is estimated at £1 million.[74][75]

Bibliography

  • Michael Portillo: The Future of the Right (1995) ISBN 1-85702-335-8
  • The Price of Peace (2000) ISBN 1-903219-15-9
  • A Blue Tomorrow – New Visions for Modern Conservatives (2001) (ed. with Edward Vaizey and Nicholas Boles) ISBN 1-84275-027-5
  • Celsius 7/7 (2006) ISBN 0-297-85146-2

Notes

  1. ^ a b Norman, Matthew (29 February 2012). "Let us never forget the stench of this rank corruption". The Independent.
  2. ^ bbc.co.uk 4 September 2012
  3. ^ a b "Teenage Michael Gove supported Labour" The Telegraph, 16 May 2010
  4. ^ a b About Rt Hon Michael Gove MP[dead link]
  5. ^ a b "Michael Gove". BBC News. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  6. ^ Class list published in The Times, 29 July 1988; p. 33
  7. ^ "Picture emerges of Tory strike basher Michael Gove on the picket line during his OWN walkout". People.co.uk. 21 March 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  8. ^ A Feast at Midnight (1995) – Full cast and crew IMDb
  9. ^ Michael Gove Policy Exchange Channel 4, September 2010
  10. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1465579/Surrey-Heath-members-believe-that-their-money-ought-to-be-able-to-buy-a-future-prime-minister.html
  11. ^ "Michael Gove: Electoral history and profile". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  12. ^ "Michael Gove MP, Surrey Heath". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  13. ^ Hinsliff, Gaby (28 September 2008). "Gove invites key Blairites to join a future Tory cabinet". The Observer.
  14. ^ "Department for Education returns in coalition rebrand". BBC News. 13 May 2010.
  15. ^ "Schools are promised an academies 'revolution'". BBC News. 26 May 2010.
  16. ^ "School buildings scheme scrapped". BBC News. 5 July 2010.
  17. ^ "Gove apologizes over school building list errors". BBC News. 7 July 2010.
  18. ^ Paton, Graeme (28 July 2010). "'Rich thick kids' do better at school, says Gove". The Daily Telegraph.
  19. ^ a b c d Richardson, Hannah (11 February 2011). "Councils defeat government over school buildings". BBC News. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  20. ^ a b Rowan Moore (6 March 2011). "Architects do matter, Mr Gove". The Observer. London. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  21. ^ "Gove: Richard Rogers won't design your school". The Architects' Journal. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  22. ^ Paton, Graeme (5 October 2010). "Conservative Part Conference: schoolchildren 'ignorant of the past', says Gove". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  23. ^ "Education White Paper: Key points". The Daily Telegraph. 24 November 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  24. ^ Paton, Graeme (3 April 2011). "Michael Gove: schools failing to promote the classics". The Sunday Telegraph. London. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  25. ^ Chivers, Tom (23 June 2011). "Would you have confused Shakespeare and Dickens, Michael Gove?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  26. ^ Garner, Richard; Wright, Oliver (21 June 2012). "Michael Gove faces criticism over GCSE axe in exam overhaul". The Independent. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  27. ^ Mulholland, Hélène; Watt, Nick (21 June 2012). "Michael Gove's plan to scrap GCSEs is ludicrous, say teaching union leaders". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  28. ^ Paton, Graeme (21 June 2012). "Lib Dems vow to block Michael Gove's plan to axe GCSEs". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  29. ^ "GCSE row: No 10 insists Cameron did know about Gove plan". BBC News. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  30. ^ YouGov. 22 June 2012 http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/0w8gg3rki9/YG-Archives-Pol-ST-results-22-240612v2.pdf. Retrieved 25 June 2012. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  31. ^ Johnson, Boris (22 June 2012). "House of Lords reform: Nick Clegg's crazy plan is a pay day for has-beens and never-wozzers". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  32. ^ "Wales and Northern Ireland rebuke on GCSEs announcement". BBC news. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  33. ^ David Hughes (25 May 2012). "Michael Gove defends school Bibles scheme". Independent. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  34. ^ a b Wintour, Patrick (17 January 2012). "And lo! Gove's Bible project did run into a spot of bother". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  35. ^ a b c Walford, Charles (19 January 2012). "Education Secretary Michael Gove's £377,000 plan to send a King James Bible to every school 'founders over funding'". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  36. ^ Shepherd, Jessica (15 May 2012). "Michael Gove's King James Bible plan rescued by millionaire Tory donors". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  37. ^ "Why I want all our children to read the King James Bible". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  38. ^ "Michael Gove: media regulation must not undermine freedom of speech". The Daily Telegraph. 29 May 2012.
  39. ^ During his answers to the Parliamentary Education Committee on 12 September in committee room 15
  40. ^ Coughlan, Sean (12 September 2012). "Michael Gove attacks Welsh GCSE regrade", BBC
  41. ^ Shepherd, Jessica (7 March 2010). "Conservatives aim to lure private schools into state system". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  42. ^ Vasagar, Jeevan (29 May 2012). "Michael Gove open-minded over state schools being run for profit". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  43. ^ a b c d Jeevan Vasagar (17 July 2012). "Creationist groups win Michael Gove's approval to open free schools". Guardian newspapers. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  44. ^ Medhi Hasan (2 November 2010). "In praise of Michael Gove:He's wrong on free schools but right to ban BNP teachers". New Statesman. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  45. ^ a b c Hope, Christopher (11 May 2009). "Michael Gove 'flipped' homes: MPs' expenses". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  46. ^ Wright, Mike (21 December 2010). "No base in the borough for Surrey Heath MP". S&B Media – Get Surrey.
  47. ^ Ensor, Josie (20 September 2011). "Michael Gove faces questions over use of private email Michael Gove and his closest advisers are under scrutiny after Government business was apparently conducted using personal email accounts". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  48. ^ Vasagar, Jeevan. "Michael Gove aides accused of deleting government correspondence Information commissioner rules that Gove used private account to discuss government business with special advisers". Guardian. Retrieved 2 March. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  49. ^ Smith, Graham (1 March 2012). "Decision Notice". Information Commissioner's Office.
  50. ^ "Michael Gove loses 'private email' battle – Emails sent by Education Secretary Michael Gove from a private account should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, it has been ruled". BBC. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  51. ^ Vasagar, Jeevan (29 March 2012). "Michael Gove appeals against ruling on misuse of email Education secretary wrongly used private account for departmental business, according to information commissioner". Guardian.
  52. ^ Henry, Julie (3 March 2012). "Michael Gove aides 'destroyed government emails' Staff in Michael Gove's office have destroyed "official" government correspondence, it has been revealed". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  53. ^ a b Doward, Jamie. "Michael Gove advisers face claims of smear tactics against foes". Observer on line. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  54. ^ a b c d Helm, Toby (02). "Are dark arts spinning out of control in Michael Gove's department?". Observer. Retrieved 3 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  55. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/apr/02/nut-no-confidence-michael-gove
  56. ^ Gove, MIchael (1 July 2003). "When the straight and narrow is the wrong path". The Times. UK. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  57. ^ McSmith, Andy (27 September 2008). "Michael Gove: The modest moderniser". The Independent. London. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  58. ^ "Michael Gove, Leveson, and the case for liberty". Archbishop Cranmer blog. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012. some of us believe that before the case for regulation is made, the case for liberty needs to be asserted as well.
  59. ^ Gove, Michael (27 October 2008). "When you're in a hole, don't dig any new ones". The Times. UK. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  60. ^ a b Gove, Michael (21 December 2008). "Michael Gove: Triumph of freedom over evil". Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  61. ^ "Gove tells UJIA: 'I am a proud Zionist'". The Jewish Chronicle. 22 September 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  62. ^ "Michael Gove helps to raise £2.8m for UJIA projects". The Jewish Chronicle. 10 October 2011.
  63. ^ Dalrymple, William (24 September 2006). "A global crisis of understanding". The Times. UK. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  64. ^ Michael Gove, Celsius 7/7 2006 pvii
  65. ^ Gove, Michael (3 November 2008). "Collapse of the pre1914 world is still felt". The Times. UK. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  66. ^ Burns, John F. (16 January 2012). "Education Minister Suggests a Yacht for Queen Elizabeth II". The New York Times.
  67. ^ "Nick Clegg Says Royal Yacht Not Top Of Priority List". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  68. ^ Gove, Michael (12 October 2008). "Michael Gove: Iceland has shown up Salmond as a Darien dreamer". The Scotsman.
  69. ^ Gove, Michael; et al. (26 July 2003), Liberal Intervention: The Empire's New Clothes? (PDF), Panel discussion sponsored by the Foreign Policy Centre and Prospect at St Leonard's, Shoreditch, retrieved 12 February 2012 {{citation}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  70. ^ "While Blair converts to Catholicism, only 8 ministers say they believe in God". Daily Mail. London. 22 December 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  71. ^ http://www.scotsman.com/news/michael-gove-flabby-kirk-needs-to-regain-its-moral-might-1-1300849
  72. ^ "Gove apologises to former French Teacher". BBC. 23 October 2012.
  73. ^ "Michael Gove". The Conservative Party. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  74. ^ Shackle, Samira; Hegarty, Stephanie; Eaton, George (1 October 2009). "The new ruling class". New Statesman.
  75. ^ Owen, Glen (23 May 2010). "The coalition of millionaires: 23 of the 29 member of the new cabinet are worth more than £1m... and the Lib Dems are just as wealthy as the Tories". Mail on Sunday.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Surrey Heath
2005–present
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
2007–2010
Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Education
2010–present
Incumbent

Template:Current Conservative MPs

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