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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/04/hugh-muir-diary-gove-east-durham

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Diary: it's 250 miles from London to Easington. Michael Gove should try it Diary: it's 250 miles from London to Easington. Michael Gove should try it
(7 months later)
• They cannot speak with forked tongue. For they know what is at stake, in this, a time of sad estrangement between politicians and public. Our hero Michael Gove knows that better than most. And yet, and yet. There he was in London, during an event sponsored by the Tory/Lib Dem thinktank CentreForum. "There is a real problem of ambition in certain traditional communities, like East Durham, which needs to change," he said. Boo to east Durham. "It's often not the parents; we know from the Millennium Cohort Study that something like 95% of parents from working class homes want their child to have the chance to go to university." The aspiration is there. "It is the case that there's no choice, the local council has been one party for many years and when you go into those schools you can smell the sense of defeatism." Which party is he having a go at in Durham? Guess. And how strong is the smell? Mighty strong. Must be. Because, contrary to what he said, the education secretary has yet to set an official foot in a school in East Durham. Dear reader, you may detect the smell of something else.• They cannot speak with forked tongue. For they know what is at stake, in this, a time of sad estrangement between politicians and public. Our hero Michael Gove knows that better than most. And yet, and yet. There he was in London, during an event sponsored by the Tory/Lib Dem thinktank CentreForum. "There is a real problem of ambition in certain traditional communities, like East Durham, which needs to change," he said. Boo to east Durham. "It's often not the parents; we know from the Millennium Cohort Study that something like 95% of parents from working class homes want their child to have the chance to go to university." The aspiration is there. "It is the case that there's no choice, the local council has been one party for many years and when you go into those schools you can smell the sense of defeatism." Which party is he having a go at in Durham? Guess. And how strong is the smell? Mighty strong. Must be. Because, contrary to what he said, the education secretary has yet to set an official foot in a school in East Durham. Dear reader, you may detect the smell of something else.
• Extraordinary really. Why would he want to stick it to Durham? Could it follow from exchanges in the Commons, when Big Dave promised to "have a word" with his education secretary over the intolerable delay there has been in the rebuilding of Seaham School of Technology, which is both in East Durham and in one of the most deprived wards in the country? Could it be because local MP Grahame Morris mockingly suggested to the house that the conversation might best be had in Latin? Optamus schola nova – "We need our new school." Or that Gove has just been humiliatingly recalled before the education select committee to discuss again alleged wrongdoings of his advisers – the committee chair being Pat Glass, MP for North West Durham? Whatever explains it: Durham isn't on his list of favourites.• Extraordinary really. Why would he want to stick it to Durham? Could it follow from exchanges in the Commons, when Big Dave promised to "have a word" with his education secretary over the intolerable delay there has been in the rebuilding of Seaham School of Technology, which is both in East Durham and in one of the most deprived wards in the country? Could it be because local MP Grahame Morris mockingly suggested to the house that the conversation might best be had in Latin? Optamus schola nova – "We need our new school." Or that Gove has just been humiliatingly recalled before the education select committee to discuss again alleged wrongdoings of his advisers – the committee chair being Pat Glass, MP for North West Durham? Whatever explains it: Durham isn't on his list of favourites.
• With national figures hurling grenades from the capital, thank God for local figures of consistency; thank God, they're saying in Coventry, for Cllr John McNicholas. HS2 is a biggie there. Not everyone is convinced the £32bn plan – as currently formulated – will help the city's economy. In 2010 Cllr McNicholas was part of the local council's cross-party unanimous vote against it. And now, as chair of Centro, the transport authority for the West Midlands, he's for it. "High-speed rail presents a tremendous opportunity for the West Midlands, bringing jobs and investment," he says. But he still wears those steel-rimmed glasses. Don't expect that to change.• With national figures hurling grenades from the capital, thank God for local figures of consistency; thank God, they're saying in Coventry, for Cllr John McNicholas. HS2 is a biggie there. Not everyone is convinced the £32bn plan – as currently formulated – will help the city's economy. In 2010 Cllr McNicholas was part of the local council's cross-party unanimous vote against it. And now, as chair of Centro, the transport authority for the West Midlands, he's for it. "High-speed rail presents a tremendous opportunity for the West Midlands, bringing jobs and investment," he says. But he still wears those steel-rimmed glasses. Don't expect that to change.
• How will the next election be fought? A contest of issues or a duel between those best versed in the black arts of politics? And what might the Tories get from their hire of the dark lord Lynton Crosby? Boris Johnson, the vessel for Crosby's ventriloquism at the last London mayoral election, gives a clue. Imagine you are in trouble, he says. "The facts are overwhelmingly against you, and the more people focus on the reality the worse it is for you and your case. Your best bet in these circumstances is to perform a manoeuvre that a great campaigner describes as 'throwing a dead cat on the table, mate'. The key point, says my Australian friend, is that everyone will shout 'Jeez, mate, there's a dead cat on the table!'; in other words they will be talking about the dead cat, the thing you want them to talk about, and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief." So watch out for those dead cats. Hope the table can bear the weight.• How will the next election be fought? A contest of issues or a duel between those best versed in the black arts of politics? And what might the Tories get from their hire of the dark lord Lynton Crosby? Boris Johnson, the vessel for Crosby's ventriloquism at the last London mayoral election, gives a clue. Imagine you are in trouble, he says. "The facts are overwhelmingly against you, and the more people focus on the reality the worse it is for you and your case. Your best bet in these circumstances is to perform a manoeuvre that a great campaigner describes as 'throwing a dead cat on the table, mate'. The key point, says my Australian friend, is that everyone will shout 'Jeez, mate, there's a dead cat on the table!'; in other words they will be talking about the dead cat, the thing you want them to talk about, and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief." So watch out for those dead cats. Hope the table can bear the weight.
• Finally, with the Queen all poorly, nerves rattle at ConservativeHome. "Is anyone else as appalled as I am that our Monarch, who represents, personally and magnificently, the only institution remaining in this country that almost every right-thinking person respects, should succumb to gastroenteritis," posts one loyal subject." "We need every possible reassurance that scrupulous care goes into the provision and preparation of Her Majesty's food?" For this is England. "It seems ludicrous that she should fall ill with gastroenteritis here, in the heart of her realm." These bugs. No respect.• Finally, with the Queen all poorly, nerves rattle at ConservativeHome. "Is anyone else as appalled as I am that our Monarch, who represents, personally and magnificently, the only institution remaining in this country that almost every right-thinking person respects, should succumb to gastroenteritis," posts one loyal subject." "We need every possible reassurance that scrupulous care goes into the provision and preparation of Her Majesty's food?" For this is England. "It seems ludicrous that she should fall ill with gastroenteritis here, in the heart of her realm." These bugs. No respect.
Twitter: @hugh_muirTwitter: @hugh_muir
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