Gove Over

“Why bother voting Blue Labour rather than New Labour?”, they sometimes ask in the comments over on things like Coffee House. And the answer has been “Michael Gove’s Swedish-style school reforms”. Well, Tory local government has now risen in revolt against that. I had been wondering how long it would take.

These days, there is once again rather a lot of Tory local government. The Tories have become like the Lib Dems, with grassroots activists used to leading councils, chairing education authorities and all that, but “led” by people who have never run so much as their own baths. The former know the state education system intimately as past pupils, as parents, as governors, more often that you might think as past or present teachers, and so on. The latter, by contrast, are rather less familiar with it…

Of course, the same principle applies to every other public service. Grassroots Tories use it, sometimes work in it, are often accustomed to running it. Whereas the allegedly more senior Tories know not the first thing about it. And are therefore susceptible to the equally ignorant, fundamentally adolescent outpourings of the think tank boys. Such as “Wisconsin-style” welfare “reform”, although that seems to have gone by the by. And such as “Swedish-style” school “reform”.

Between them, the teaching unions and the (often Tory) local government side of education have seen off such formidable figures as David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and Alan Johnson. David Cameron and the rest of his foppish dilettantes haven’t a hope in hell.

So there is no reason to bother turning out and voting Tory rather than New Labour at the next General Election. Simply none at all.