Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.... Michael Gove

[VanillaSugar]

Is back in the Cabinet, doing for the environment what he did to education.

FML.

This reshuffle is a waste of time. May will be gone within a few months. The Tories won't let her fight another election. It was madness calling an election just before the most important negotiations the country has had to do in decades.

Suzie i don't believe JC was nasty about anyone in the campaign, that's why people like him, because he he doesn't slag people off for political gain.

VanillaSugar

You know "The Play that Goes Wrong" and "Peter Pan Goes Wrong"?

This is "The Tory Government Goes Wrong" confused 😲

I loved The Play That Goes Wrong. Laughed so much my face hurt.

I don't think j I'm going to be laughing at The Election That Goes Wrong, unless it's the kind of hysterical laughter that occurs when you are on the brink of losing your sanity.

MG might be a charmer, but I know someone who met him at an education conference. He sat at their table for lunch. And promptly moved away when the questions from the very experienced teachers and headteachers on the table became too 'difficult '- he definitely did not charm them!

Having Michael Gove in the cabinet is a sop to the DUP.

Gove wrote a pamphlet in 2000 called Northern Ireland: the Price of Peace in which he compared the agreement to the appeasement of the Nazis in the 1930s and the condoning of the desires of paedophiles which went down well with the extreme elements of the DUP.
www.cps.org.uk/files/reports/original/111220142628-thepriceofpeace2000MichaelGove.pdf

The DUP would prefer if their nefarious activities were not put under the light of scrutiny by the UK media. By having such a loon in the cabinet diverts attention from the DUP.

Oh, and most of the country did not vote Tory. Apparently over 30% of people eligible to vote did not vote. 42.4% - of those who did vote - chose the Conservative party.

So less than 30% of eligible voters opted for the conservatives.

Of course, the conservatives have won most seats, and you can't blame Theresa May for trying to form a government, even as you can see how difficult a task lies ahead. Really though, Michael Gove? and the DUP?

He's just moved into my neighbourhood in london. Boo. Hiss!

Just shows how utterly desperate and stupid may is that she has to give that ticket anything at all.

I have heard, from someone who used to work for him in the Dfe, that Gove is a lovely man in real life.

However, as a minister he refuses to listen to experts and people with experience in the field he is meant to be leading. It is his way or the highway. Just look at the debacle that is the new SATs exam (even the panel of experts he was supposed to be consulting say it's a sack of shit).

What he did in education wasn't brave or necessary. It was pure, ideological vandalism. He's fucked over so. many. students. The requirements he demanded for the new exams make them impossible for at least a third of students.

The man I hold solely responsible for ruining my kids education is now in charge of the environment. Christ.

However this Government won't last long and will be incapable of passing any laws thankfully.

Amazed the number of poster 'who know someone who knows' Michael Gove

Waves to Sarah Vine

Violet. I'm praying the Grammar school stuff doesn't get through. The money put aside for that should be given to all schools.

They have been saying on the news channels that the "controversial" stuff will not even be in the Queens speech, so fingers crossed for no more grammars.

I'm not a Tory voter, nor a fan of Gove, although I think he is very bright, much brighter than Leadsom - it's what he does with his intelligence which concerns me...

However, I should point out, firstly at least two of the last three Environment Ministers were climate change sceptics, that's Leadsom and Paterson. I'm not sure on Truss. So there's no change there. Climate change anyway comes under BEIS and Greg Clark, not Defra and as far as I know Greg Clark is not a climate change sceptic, he held the shadow cabinet position on climate change for a number of years and was generally considered to be pretty solid.

Secondly, UK environmental legislation is set by the EU. Unlike teaching. So the Industrial Emissions Directive, the Water Framework Directive etc. They all stay in place until at least March 2019, ie two years on from Art 50 being triggered. There's no immediate risk of those being repealed. Before the election the plan was to import them directly into UK law. I see no reason why that would change. The issue is whether there will be enough staff to enforce, but that's a broader issues around funding the public sector not specific to this.

Thirdly, there'a a hell of a lot to do on CAP and the CFP and frankly seeing as Gove helped engineer Brexit, it is probably as well he is involved in trying to untangle this mess. Let him have the talks with the NFU. He is certainly more capable than Leadsom, who got the post as a sop IMO, after the leadership contest.

Fourthly, I would be very surprised if this government continues for another two years. I don't think this is a long term appointment.

That's my view anyway, as someone who has worked in this area.

Makingmerry That's very reassuring. I'm now also positively pleased that part of Gove's job will be sorting out the mess he's created with Brexit.

Susie, the black and white thinking you claim is representative of Corbyn and the Labour party is how he was represented by the DM and the Sun.

he never said all rich people are nasty and greedy and all of the less well off are angels, nor that he wanted to get rid of the Royal Family.

I hope while he gets farmers and fishermen a good deal
Well he fucked up Education but I hope he remembers his roots...

Well I'm glad it was reassuring chicaguapa. When I first heard, I was concerned, but on reflection Defra has been the poor relation in the cabinet for a while, and would not normally get a minister who is perceived to be such a heavyweight - which Gove is, whether or not we like him.

I'm a Remainer, but CAP needed reforming - I think most environmentalists would agree with that. Gove has a passion for Brexit. Gove given his father owned a fishery, may have some interest in fishing policy. Farming and farming subsidies are deeply politically unsexy, but absolutely essential to resolve. Farmers cannot in any case be pushed around like teachers because they are not employed by the state. Let him get on with it, for as long as this continues.

What MakingMerry said. Gove has a lot less leeway in this department than he did in education, simply because there is so much EU legislation already in place. Plus the NFU won't be backwards in coming forwards.

the NFU won't be backwards in coming forwards

The teachers no unions were also vocal. Didn't stop him.

While a lot of our wildlife is protected under EU laws, and while it may take time to do something about that, I am not that confident.
Found this from The Independent back in March.

"Britain can slash Brussels regulations on clinical trials for new drugs and on building near protected wildlife habitats now that it is leaving the European Union, Michael Gove has said.

The Tory MP and former cabinet minister, who was a key figure in the Brexit campaign, said the pledge to “take back control” could allow Britain to scrap “absurd” rules such as the European Commission’s Habitats Directive and Clinical Trials Directive.

“If there are regulations which hold any business here back, we now have the potential to amend or even if necessary rescind them,” Mr Gove told an audience in central London this week.

The Habitats Directive holds that if you build a home within five kilometres of a particular type of terrain, heathland, then you have to allocate, at the same time, something called suitable alternative natural green space to offset the environmental impact.”

He derided the rationale for such rules and said that the directive “massively increases the cost and the regulatory burden for housing development”.

While I get we need more housing, I don't think this can come at the expense of loads of natural habitat which performs so many roles for us - flood defense, pollination of crops, water cleaning, air cleaning...... I hope now he's in a position of power he doesn't actually go through with this but I'm not hopeful.

Gove's a throwback to the 1950s. I expect he's dusting off his bird egg collection and looking forward to playing with ddt.

May and Gove loathe each other. As PP say, it's a case of keep your enemies closer.

Gove is (despite all evidence to the contrary) pretty intelligent. You don't want him plotting and briefing against you.

She's desperate.

Imperial

I was in his constituency for a long time and I don't think he is either a good bloke or a good MP. He royally shafted something with which I was associated and I think he's the most unpleasant of men.

He is absolutely interested only in himself and how he can featherchis own nest. Hateful man.

He can't repeal any EU directives until we have left the EU babybythesea. He does not have that power. So nothing can be done until March 2019. As and when we leave the EU, the laws can be amended. That is a possibility, whoever is Secretary of State, and one of the main reasons I voted to remain. But it is a consequence of Brexit, not specific to Michael Gove being Environment Secretary. Whether it happens depends on the type of Brexit we have. A soft Brexit will mean agreeing to be bound by (many? all? some? we don't know yet) of the same laws as were previously which makes it less likely.

In the short term, the Tories aren't going to be trying anything legislatively controversial because they have not got the majority and cannot be wasting effort on legislation that will never pass.

needsahalo I take the point, but it's not just a case of the NFU being vocal. NFU headquarters are next door to Defra. That tells you all you need to know about how closely the two work. The degree of influence the NFU has on Defra policy is significant. Some might argue too significant.

As some PPs have said - Gove's an intelligent, savvy politician, who knows the ways of governance - and I couldn't give a toss if he hasn't got charisma, like I don't care that TM doesn't either. i welcome Gove back.