Gove on Scotland (or rather the Scottish Tories)
An interesting nugget from this week’s edition of the Spectator, buried at the end of an interview with the UK Education Secretary Michael Gove:
On the walls of Gove’s office a map of Scotland, a reminder of his roots and of devolution — the Education Secretary’s writ doesn’t run north of the border, but however much of an optimist he is, he can’t summon much hope of a Conservative revival in Scotland. ‘It’s not heartening at the moment because one of the striking things — and I suppose this is a measure of it — even though the erosion in the Conservative vote this time round was less than the erosion of the Liberal Democrat vote or the Labour vote, it was still eroding. More than that, we did particularly badly where there was a straightforward Labour/Conservative battle.’ Asked what might revive the Scottish Tories, he answers, with a rare note of melancholy in his voice: ‘I don’t think there is any single thing that can be done.’
Having interviewed Gove a few years ago about the recent history of the Scottish Conservative Party (and the legacy of Margaret Thatcher), this reminds me of his genuine concern at its continued electoral decline. Does he have any answers? No. But it impressed me that a UK Cabinet minister with no remit north of the border was abreast of his party’s recent performance in the Holyrood elections…