Sketch: Gove makes pitch for Bradford City contract

One set of signs directed guests to an election event featuring former justice secretary, one time challenger for the Conservative Party leadership and leading Brexit campaigner Michael Gove.

The other set pointed visitors in the direction of a speed awareness course, presumably of the sort drivers are often invited to attend having been caught over the speed limit.

I have to confess after weeks of watching and attending election events the prospect of being lectured about my driving style momentarily felt an altogether more inviting prospect than once again listening to the soundbites I have heard so often I can now recite them in my sleep.

It was a moment akin to that in the film The Matrix where Keanu Reeves’s character is told to choose between taking the blue pill and entering the real world or the red pill which will keep him blissfully ignorant he is in an artificial environment.

Something approaching professionalism kicked in and I dutifully turned into the Conservative event where Mr Gove sat at a table in front of the assembled audience in the same manner that new players are presented to the media when they sign for the club.

The similarity was not lost on the guest speaker himself, who compared his chances of a return to the cabinet to his prospects of playing for Bradford City next season.

Mr Gove had the chance to make his case for a playing contract when he was wisked upstairs to Bradford City chairman Edin Rahic’s office.

Mr Rahic had the look of someone who was not expecting a former cabinet minister, several Conservative candidates, media and various other people to burst into his office on a Thursday morning.

What appeared to be top secret plans were hastily wiped from the whiteboard on the wall as hands were shaken and photographs taken.

Just another day on the election campaign trail.