| Michael Gove has laughed off criticism of his decision to sack Sally Morgan as chair of Ofsted as he said that a revolutionary communist could replace the former Blair aide if they were committed to high standards in education. As the shadow Cabinet Office minister Michael Dugher wrote to the cabinet secretary over the sacking, the education secretary said that he would appoint a successor on the advice of an independent body. It would assess a candidate on merit regardless of his or her political affiliation. Speaking at the London Academy of Excellence in Stratford, east London, Gove said: "By definition that independent body will make its recommendation entirely free of any consideration about the political views or background of any of the candidates. So if the right candidate for any public appointment happens to be a member of the Revolutionary Communist party or someone who has been generous enough to support a political party with their hard-earned cash – if they are the right person then he or she will be appointed. That is the end of it." Gove's remarks came as Dugher raised concerns about Morgan in a letter to the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood. Dugher said he feared there was a "pattern of behaviour" in which non-Conservatives were being removed from public bodies. Dugher's letter came after Liberal Democrat sources said that David Laws, the education minister, feared Gove was politicising Ofsted. In his letter, Dugher wrote: "There are pressing questions which will go to the heart of public trust – not simply concerning the impartiality of schools inspections but also the very integrity of the civil service appointments process. "There seems to be no logical reason for Baroness Morgan's sacking. As No 10 has said: 'This government appoints people on merit'. The education secretary himself has acknowledged Baroness Morgan's 'great knowledge and insight, leading the board strongly through a period of significant change'. Therefore this appears to be nothing short of a political decision taken by the secretary of state." Dugher said he feared that Gove was lining up the Tory donor Theodore Agnew to replace Morgan. Gove's comments that a donor to a political party should not be excluded show that he appears to be keeping his options open. But he said on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 on Sunday that Paul Marshall, a Lib Dem donor who is the education department's main non-executive donor, would play a key role in recommending the new chair of Ofsted. In his comments after his speech to London Academy of Excellence, Gove dismissed criticism from his former permanent secretary Sir David Bell that he is too dismissive of what he calls the "blob" – Gove's term for the educational establishment. But the education secretary did admit that he has occasionally attempted to go too far with his reforms. "One of the best things about the Department for Education is that it attracts brilliant civil servants who are skilled in saying yes, no, maybe and then sometimes just sucking their teeth when they want to let me know politely but firmly that it is a bad idea. "One of the striking things about my period so far as education secretary – in the first third probably of my tenure – is that there have been a number of occasions where I have acknowledged that I have bitten off more than I can chew. I am always happy to acknowledge when an idea that I have put forward in a sincere desire to improve state education has been met by constructive criticism which leads me to rethink at least a part of that. "So for example when we were thinking about how to reform GCSE examinations, the coalition put forward a particular set of proposals including a single exam board which I think had a lot of merit. But the practical concerns were explained to me and indeed the independent exams regulator - Ofqual - told me in no uncertain terms that it wasn't a runner both to reform the exams market and to raise standards at one and the same time. I listened to that independent regulator and I acted and I changed my mind. "So I think the characterisation of the Department for Education as a gallery of nodding dogs is very wide of the mark. The characterisation of education policy as a unified chorus of views on any one side of the debate is also a mischaracterisation." In his speech Gove said he wanted to tear down the "Berlin Wall" between state and private schools to ensure there was no difference in standards between the two sectors. He confirmed that he would like to extend the school day to ensure that state schools followed their independent counterparts with days lasting nine or 10 hours. He also announced that he would like the common entrance exam, set for prep school pupils entering fee-paying schools at the age of 13, to be used to test standards in state schools. |