Gove is one of the few Tories who leaves behind a significant political legacy
It is no exaggeration to suggest that the departure of Michael Gove from frontline politics is totemic for the Conservatives.
Both loved and reviled by those in his own party (and the wider country), the 56-year-old is one of the few in the Tory Party who is able to point to a significant political legacy that he now leaves behind.
Gove is regarded across Westminster as one of the great reformers over the past 14 years of a Conservative-led administration, ushering in major changes to England’s school system, leading the highly contentious Brexit vote and sabotaging Boris Johnson’s first attempt at becoming prime minister.
Having been tasked by his once closest friend, and fellow member of the so-called “Notting Hill set” David Cameron to overhaul the country’s schools, Gove set about the task with a near evangelical zeal.
He oversaw the mass removal of secondary schools from local authority control, converting more than half into academy status, while tearing up the curriculum and assessment system to try and bring England’s standards closer to the highest performing countries in Europe and east Asia.
After waging a war with the teaching unions, he was eventually sacked by Cameron and later stabbed him in the back by choosing to campaign to leave the European Union, destroying his relationship with the then prime minister.
He then betrayed Johnson, his great campaigning partner, declaring him unfit to hold the office of prime minister.
That decision has stayed with him since, casting him as the enemy within among many Tory MPs. But his talent for grappling with the thorniest of policy problems meant he was rarely out of the Cabinet for long.
Having spent nearly a decade sitting at the top table under four separate prime ministers and nearly 20 years in parliament, the MP for Surrey Heath has decided to call time on his political career.
In truth, the writing was already on the wall for him. His leafy constituency is viewed as a prime target for the Liberal Democrats, who believe they will make major inroads in the Tories’ blue wall seats of the Home Counties.
Whether he would have been able to hold his constituency will never be known, but what is clear is that his departure is a big blow for Rishi Sunak.
