He may have less than a year, as Parliament returns and his Party’s conference looms, to persuade voters of his case – which he has scarcely even begun to make.
Gove is ready to localise as much either as he wants to or as his colleagues will let him, or both. I hope it’s work in progress.
The author recounts how, despite the opposition of John Major and Conservative MEPs, he kept Boris Johnson on the candidates’ list.
He wrote Cameron’s “Hug a Hoody” speech, and during the Barnard Castle affair leapt to the defence of Cummings.
If the campaign management were outsourced, as recently, who would take it on? And if it weren’t, could CCHQ really cope?
He may eventually be able to construct a case for return which, while tortuous, would not be beyond the reach of his powers of persuasion.
We must keep asking: ‘what’s the right level to pursue social repair?’ The nation is too large; the individual is too small. The community remains the right place.
The Government had next to no living standards message at the election. It needs one now – and to explain how it fits in with those three priorities.
We have our reservations about the Foreign Secretary, but concede that he alone, of those Ministers who spoke this week, made the Tory message sing.
And there are other policies she could pursue. More nurseries in primary schools. Tougher school discipline. Longer sentences for child abuse.
If you interview a Trotskyite, say so. Do not pretend he is simply an academic.
It’s predominately a tight-knit group of former staffers who’ve worked together before. No change there. But it has a more provincial and state school feel.
The Prime Minister’s statement was “rather weird”, his former adviser tells the BBC.
But some of the reforms listed above would improve the quality of healthcare, save money and set the service on a more long-term footing.