Jayne Dowle: Children who will count the cost of a Minister's ambition

YOU would hope that, as the father of two young children, Michael Gove might have some understanding of what it feels like to be a parent. But that would be to under-estimate the ruthless ambition of the Education Secretary.

I am sure that he would not want his own son and daughter to be educated in a crumbling building, with holes in the roof and no provision for broadband internet, or any of the other things which make up a decent modern school.

But when it comes to millions of other children around the country, it is tough luck. His cancellation of the Labour government's 55bn Building Schools for the Future programme has blown a hole straight through the hopes of parents, teachers and everyone else charged with ensuring that our children get the education they deserve. Not to mention putting thousands of jobs in the beleaguered construction industry in jeopardy.

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It is no surprise to find that the BSF programme appears to have suffered from over-inflated Labour hubris and needed a serious financial and logistical re-think. But let's not make excuses for Gove himself. In his determination to make his political mark, he has picked on the wrong target. And not only has he picked on the wrong target, he has made a right mess of it.

Gove's hit-list cancelled 715 of the 3,500 secondary schools to be rebuilt or refurbished under BSF, including many in our region. Oh, and then he realised that he had missed at least 25 off his hit-list, and was forced to make a grovelling public apology admitting to his mistake.

Now, let's just get a bit of perspective. This man is in charge of his department. Whatever we think of his politics, we have to put our trust in him. He has only been in the job for two months, and already he has made a major error, embarrassed his bosses and caused a furore among his own backbenchers and the public. If he was working at one of the many companies and organisations which face job cuts, he would be first on the list for Job Centre Plus.

Just because he has apologised doesn't make it all right, whatever the friends rushing to his defence say. It is clear that the hit-list was drawn up in a tremendous hurry, and rushed out without time for proper checking or consultation. Is that the way that we want education policy to be dreamt up? On the hoof, and with no checks and balances? Is that the way that all our government policies are being dreamt up?

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This mess over BSF sounds a huge warning bell. Every day brings news of another major cut, another plan shelved, another round of redundancies. If they have all been thought through as carefully as this one, then heaven help us. I can only wonder what has happened to parliamentary democracy when one minister can over-turn such a huge programme as this, seemingly single-handedly.

You might expect a man who has spent all his adult life in and around politics to have rather more political nous. It has been illuminating to watch the vitriolic spats with his predecessor Ed Balls, now his opposite number and contemporary at Oxford University. But for Gove, the most worrying matter must be that backbenchers from his own party, including Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, who intends to question him in the Commons about scrapping new schools in his constituency today, have lined up in protest. It will be interesting to see if he responds to these concerns with his customary arrogance, because frankly I can't see how the Minister can credibly defend himself.

Heralded as a rising star of the Conservative party, a confident media performer, and long-recognised as one of David Cameron's inner circle, Gove has been mooted as a future leader of the party. Regarded as a "true Tory", his Right-wing views have been especially attractive to those in the party who find Cameron's compromise with the Lib Dems difficult to stomach. But this row over BSF has put a whole new perspective on his position. The disenchantment of backbenchers, already spoiling for a fight over the Cameron/Clegg liaison, should not be under-estimated. These same backbenchers also feel disconnected from and ignored by the "inner circle" at the top, of which until now at least, Gove has been a prominent member.

Let me give Gove some advice.There is nothing that unites people like education. Whatever your politics, whatever your personal views, when it comes to schools and teachers, everyone has a view and no-one is afraid of expressing it. Being a politician is not only about talking, but listening. He should recognise this, and recognise it quickly before his own future and the future of thousands of children are sacrificed on the altar of his ambition.