What a stonking performance! While the media has been obsessed with the notion that the Prime Minister may have been eclipsed by a certain mop-headed Mayor, it is Michael Gove, the nice guy of Westminster, who has shone – not with the fool’s gold of style, but with genuine substance.

Gove has the huge advantage of coming from humble origins, which enables him to appear distinct from the toxic brand of Cameron and his circle. His conference speech, with its focus on the “dark secret at the heart of the English education system,” demonstrates this vividly. For Gove, using Conservative ideology to create opportunity for the underprivileged is not an academic concern; he embraces the concerns of the left in his interest in helping the poorest, and holds liberal stances on everything from sexuality to social mobility. Yet, as his rigorous EBacc plans demonstrate, his approach to implementing those ideals is far from the mollycoddling indulgence that characterises the Left. His confidence in the potential of our young people – all our young people – was a constant thread in his conference speech, with a resounding rejection of the “artificial cap on aspiration” and the “soft bigotry of low expectations” that a Labour-led soft education culture has created. Continue reading on the Telegraph website