| • One of the great qualities of Michael Gove is his open mind. Whereas a lesser education secretary, blessed with a "fantastic" (his words) chair of Ofsted, might be tempted to leave her in her post to continue the "superlative job" he believes her to be doing, Gove prefers instead to "refresh" the post by kicking her out. Asked on Monday if his ousting of Labour peer Sally Morgan might have been, um, political, an affronted Gove said he would appoint the right candidate, whether they "happen[ed] to be a member of the Revolutionary Communist party, or generous enough to support a political party with their hard-earned cash". Well, this is great news – it's been too long since we had a revolutionary communist in charge of a major public body. We call the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) [http://www.rcpbml.org.uk/] for suitable candidates. A spokesman sends a statement: "While we would not deny that any member of RCPB(ML) would be of a suitable calibre for public office, we would like to make it clear that our party has not been approached by Michael Gove or any other government minister with regard to any public appointment." Yes, but if he asked? "We have nothing but contempt for the education secretary's attacks on public education." Oh, dear. It looks as if Gove may be forced to stick to plan B – appointing someone who has given the Tories loads of money. |