Michael GOVES Advice to Kemi Badenoch reveals how far the Conservatives have fallen

Michael Gove was the most consecutive minister of the 14 years of the Conservative government. One could argue that, without him, Great Britain would have remained in the European Union: he paved the way to Boris Johnson to direct the campaign of leave in the referendum. And, although he was twice interrupted for party leadership, he also had a substantial file as a reform minister of education, justice and vegetables.

As editor -in -chief of The spectatorHe will continue to influence the conservative policy, so he was worth hearing what he had to say on Thursday, to the students I teach at Kings College in London, when he gave these terms a final class in the conservative module taught by Dr. Jack Brown.

He offered a brief study of the conservative period of disorders, ending with an honest assessment of the way she ended, with Mini-Budget Liz Trusss In 2022 being the point of no return. I think it was, even more than Partygate, the biggest blow in the conservative file, he said.

The fact that people in real time have seen the costs of their mortgages increase and saw the country entering a period of economic instability, destroyed the reputation of the conservatives, like it, for economic management.

But more than that, the fact that it is us, the conservatives of our members and our deputies who said, this person is ready to be Prime Minister, and the fact that just after 40 days, people thought, what would you smoke?

This meant that the one who took over, and even if it was Rishi Sunak, who had predicted that it would end in tears, they would be on a losing window.

While GOVE retired from Parliament, the Conservative Party suffered the worst defeat in its history.

We are now with Keir Starmer, having promised changes, Gove said. Following a change, what we have now is a government that is attached to austerity, remaining close to a republican president, increasing defense spending and seeing more children enter poverty. So, as you can see, a radical change from the previous 14 years.

One of the students asked what Gove thought that the party should do now. He admitted that it would be very, very difficult for the Conservatives to recover. The last time they were in opposition, it took three elections to the conservatives before finding the leader and the platform that brought them to the government.

In 2010, he said, the requirements for the conservatives to enter the government were: one, Tony Blair to replace; Two, the policies on the economy and the public sector which did not seem exclusively favored the richest. And three, the property of policies that were on or meant altruism as well as David Camerons adopts green policies Was both important in itself, this question increases salience in the minds of peoples, but also, it is a policy on our children.

Now, he said, the difficulties that the conservative party has are linked to the perceptions of incompetence, but how can you prove that you are competent unless you return to power?

He said that Kemi Badenoch, his Protg as a conservative leader, must take drastic measures to try to change the party's perception, although he considers him as something that conservative leaders, plural, should do, implying that there can be more than one before the conservatives are not winning again. He also thought they would not follow his advice.

What I think the conservative leaders should do, but what I think will not happen is that they should say: I am really sorry for the mini-budget liz truss. And do you know why we were wrong? We were wrong because we prefer the ideology and the self-affair of reality and reflection on the whole country. This will never happen again, and I will change the way the leaders are elected in order to make sure that this is not the case.

In other words, he would take the right to choose the party leader to members and would restore him alone to deputies, just as the standard before William Hague widens the franchise in 1998 to defend himself against a challenge by Michael Portillo, which, moreover, has written an admiration biography.

As of His own leadership ambitionsGove was asked why he withdrew his support from Johnson after the referendum. I convinced myself towards the end of the referendum campaign that Boris had gone from Prince Hal to Henry V; He had left the buffoon of the alleged heir, the potential monarch, said Gove.

But without wanting to go into too much detail, in the days that followed, Boris returned to the more chaotic silhouette that I had hoped that he had managed to transcend, and there was a variety of things that I would have planned that someone would have done if he was not doing the goal of doing.

So I thought I cannot say at this stage of the country, this man is ready to be Prime Minister. Now, with hindsight, I should probably have said it, then withdraw and withdraw, rather than putting myself forward. But at the time, he struck me that you cannot just say, oh, well, he is not suitable, and then does not provide an answer.

All I would say is that sometimes politicians, like everyone else, can indulge in pious wishes, and sometimes politicians, like everyone else, can see that after a period of exhaustion and adrenaline, their judgment is altered.

Gove turned against Johnson a second time after Johnson has been a Prime Minister for three years, but he offered an attenuation advocacy on behalf of Johnsons on Partygate: Boris is not someone who is naturally gregarious. Boris is not someone who thought, brilliant; No one knows what's going on behind the black door: party, party, party!

Gove said: Boris really believed that what he was doing was legitimate, strictly necessary for work. What he did not do is take the trouble to say, look at, these rules that I have just spoken to everyone seems that it was not really going to hold for a moment.

Johnsons Errort, thought of Gove, was to continue to insist that the rules had been respected. The style of governance of Boriss was that of someone who was a player of Prime Minister are often so and his games most of the time have detached themselves, then finally, a bet too much led to his fall.

GOVE was asked which of the five Prime Ministers of the period was the best to manage the public service and which of them would have been best to manage the coronavirus pandemic. In both cases, his response was David Cameron, but he also said Tony Blair had been influential during the pandemic. The former Labor Prime Minister put pressure for a policy of first doses for vaccines, widening the gap between the two doses, thus maximizing the numbers receiving the greatest protection of the first dose.

Following being influential and pressing for some of the things he argued, he helped the renewal late in his political reputation, said Gove, adding: in my life, the most impressive politician in the English -speaking world was Tony Blair.

As I always said, Michael Gove was the real conservative heir to Blair, and should have been Prime Minister instead of Boris Johnson.