"One of the most profound, but under-appreciated, changes that David Cameron has brought to Conservative politics is a determination to put the strengthening of relationships at the heart of policy."

We've discussed Michael Gove's remarks about Nuts and Zoo but there's much more to this morning's speech to the IPPR.  It's an explanation of David Cameron's Conservatism that sees the quality of relationships as essential to progress in education and the relief of poverty.  It's a statement of the superiority of people-sized institutions - like the family, neighbourhood charity and local school - over state-sized bureaucracies.  It stands very much in the great tradition of To Empower People, the landmark book on civil society by Neuhaus and Berger.  Some highlights from Michael Gove's speech:

The importance of relationships: "Ubuntu is a Bantu word which, broadly translated, means "I am because you are". President Clinton has made it something of a mantra, and deployed it to great effect in his speech to the 2006 Labour Party Conference. It resonated because it spoke to a deep truth. Each of us is defined, and enriched, by our relationship to others. It's the strength of our relationships, the warmth of our friendships, the time we have with our partners, parents and children, the respect we're given in the workplace and by our peers, the achievements we forge collaboratively and collectively, which generate real happiness and fulfilment. We are fully ourselves because others believe in us.  One of the most profound, but under-appreciated, changes that David Cameron has brought to Conservative politics is a determination to put the strengthening of relationships at the heart of policy."

Labour is undermining community relationships: "The Government's approach to the closure of post offices, with its narrow emphasis on economic costs without regard to social benefits, is an erosion of community resilience.  The determination to push ahead with the closure of small GP practices and their replacement by polyclinics is another move in the direction of narrow cost efficiency over enriching personal intimacy... More broadly, the web of autonomous institutions which help bind communities together have found their lives made more difficult in the last ten years. From scouting to child-minding, regulation has driven adults out of roles where they served their communities. School governance and charitable engagement have become much more time-consuming, legally fraught and bureaucratically complex."

Citizens want a more personal form of interaction with Government: "Frustrated by government bureaucracies which treat them as just a number, dismayed by automated helplines and unresponsive websites which deprive them of human contact and a sympathetic ear, they come to the surgery in search of someone who will listen, who will value them as humans not cases.  And yet, even as I, like almost all MPs, witness this growing demand for a more personal, responsive, human face to Government, this government is making public services more distant."

Improving the relationship with parents and schools: "The principle at the heart of our schools reform programme is changing the way we make schools accountable so that community relationships are strengthened. We will make schools accountable to parents by allowing parents to choose the school they want for their child. We'll give every parent the right to take the money currently allocated to their child's education and then deploy it in accordance with their priorities, not the Government's.  We'll make it easier for new providers to enter the state system, reforming planning and other laws to increase choice and diversity. Parents will be empowered to choose the school with the pedagogy, the disciplinary approach, the ethos and the philosophy they believe in. Whether its the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner or Thomas Arnold, it will be parents who decide what's right for their children."

A better relationship between the very rich and very poor: "My colleague Greg Clark has previously outlined how important it is for us to see society as a caravan moving through the desert - as we all make progress its important that none are left too far behind. The relationship between those at society's head and those less fortunately placed is important to us all - and there is a duty to ensure that the relationship between those at the top and bottom of society does not become too distant. We must not become strangers to each other in the same country."

Encouraging responsibility to the poor: "Now, I'm a huge fan of open market economies, growth, dynamism, entrepeneurship and success. I would never want to impede economic growth, indeed I'm anxious to remove many of the barriers which currently stand in the way of dynamism and ambition. But I do believe that we need to ensure that with a culture which encourages, facilitates and celebrates success there's also a parallel culture of responsibility, reciprocity and respect. Of those to whom much is given, much is expected. That's why we as a party have devoted so much time to exploring how we can encourage philanthropy, in every area from investment in education to culture and environmental enhancement. That's why David Cameron has emphasised the vital importance of corporate social responsibility. That's why our social policy is so explicitly redistributive."

Conservatives are committed to strengthening relationships within the family: "We are also committed to supporting family life, and stability and commitment in relationships, precisely because the secure start in life a stable family background provides is the best guarantee of maximising opportunity.  Helping adults commit and stay committed not only opens the door to a depth of emotional enrichment which a series of shallow and hedonistic encounters can never generate, it also provides the best possible start in life for children. Helping families under pressure, especially those under economic pressure, to commit and stay committed, is one of the most effective anti-poverty, pro-opportunity, pro-equality steps one could take."

Download a PDF of the full Michael Gove speech.

Comments

[Mark Wadsworth]

"Citizens want a more personal form of interaction with Government"?

Er ... how about "Citizens want less interaction with Government"

That's better.

[Tony Makara]

A very fine speech which balances individual freedom with the need for community cohesion. I feel that Mr Gove is making a much needed intellectual justification for both.

[Dale]

""Citizens want a more personal form of interaction with Government"?

Er ... how about "Citizens want less interaction with Government"

That's better."

Amen to that!

[Angelo Basu]

A good speech, just a shame that the reference to lads mags had its (presumably) intended effect in getting coverage but with the (presumably) unintended effect of distracting from all the good stuff by giving the press the opportunity to bash lads mags while printing lurid photos.

""Citizens want a more personal form of interaction with Government"?

Er ... how about "Citizens want less interaction with Government"

How about "Citizens want less interaction with Government but when they need to interact with Government they want it to be more personal and responsive to their needs"? I think that's what Gove is saying.

[Deborah]

"Labour is undermining community relationships"

Too right it is. This government has contributed greatly to the demise of the local pub, which has been an internationally recognised part of English life and culture for centuries and is now very much under threat.
What's the best way to destroy local community relationships? - get rid of all the places where people meet and communicate - the PO, the Doctor, the pub....
I start to wonder if this is a deliberate strategy of divide and conquer.

[Libertarian]

Gove promotes the dreaded Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR is just a form leftist extortion from shareholders through lobbying and shakedown schemes. It's the scam that leads to companies funding their enemies in environmentalist pressure groups like Greenpeace and left-wing charities like Oxfam who preach against free trade and capitalism.

It is no surprise that Steve Hilton made his fortune out of "advising" companies on CSR. Shareholders come before stakeholders (another socialist concept that Hilton promotes). Give Paris over Steve anyday. She talks more sense and loves capitalism!

[Dorian Grape]

Meanwhile, over at the Guardian, Gove is online with the main substance of his piece. But. Just as with the pre-publicity highlighting the Nuts/Zoo angle the main argument is sidelined:

http://tinyurl.com/6lv9pu

The headline, sub and comment relates to the evil of lad mags rather than to the positives of relationships and the stable family. Could a lesson be that we need to be a little bit more judicious and anticipatory with the type of hooks that we use?

Witness the reaction to the Nuts bit elsewhere at ConHome compared to the woeful response to the main article.

[David_at_Home]

I am NOT a citizen. I was not born a citizen and I have no wish to become one. Citizens are people who rush around in funny floppy hats demanding the execution of those they do not like.

Furthermore, citizens be detained without trial for 42 days, arrested without evidence by Europol (which is outside all restraints of law) and sent, without evidence and without breaking any of the laws of England or Scotland to some foreign country which I have never visited.

I AM a loyal subject of HMQ and her heirs and successors by law appointed. Our constitutional monarchy and democratic form of government are there to guarantee my rights and freedoms under the law of this country and to protect me from arbitrary arrest, detention and imprisonment.

Disraeli said that the Conservative Party is the party of the nation or it is nothing. I fear it has ceased to be the party of the nation.

[Jennifer Wells]

Excellent speech.

[Chad Noble]

"My colleague Greg Clark has previously outlined how important it is for us to see society as a caravan moving through the desert"

That wasn't Greg, it was the high priestess of relative poverty and Cameroon favourite, Polly Toynbee

[Mark Demmen]

Is this it? Looks like a contemporary rehash of Tory paternalism to me. Still not much recognition that government is usually the problem, not the solution. No lessons learnt about how noble intentions and fine-sounding policies run into the sand - often at great expense to the taxpayer.

And CSR really is a load of pernicious hogwash - socialism by other means.

Oh dear.

[Londoner]

COMMENT OVERWRITTEN.

[Libertarian]

Thanks Chad, the more I read of Gove, the more I realise that he is a fraud. And he had the cheek to slag off Madsen Pirie in the Spectator after Madsen had helped his career! Gove is an intellectual pygmy compared to Dr Pirie and is therefore well suited to a place in Dave's shadow cabinet.

[Sam Chapman]

"We'll give every parent the right to take the money currently allocated to their child's education and then deploy it in accordance with their priorities, not the Government's."

Will this extend to homeschooling? The lesson from the USA is that homeschools give better results that the state school system, and as an added bonus for Mr Gove, they also seem to produce a veritable army of socially concerned conservative activists.

[Tom]

" Parents will be empowered to choose the school with the pedagogy, the disciplinary approach, the ethos and the philosophy they believe in."

No mention of allowing these schools to select on the basis of academic ability. But then it's no big surprise, since Gove voiced his disapproval of such selection last year at the party conference.

As always, if money is channeled through the State it will come with strings attached. Vouchers or whatever name they end up being called are merely another variation on social democracy.

[Cllr Brendan Murphy - Independent Conservative]

It is both a sad speech and a frightening speech. Sad ... because it reiterates the Cameroonians' continuing perversion of the Conservative concept of freedom. Frightening ... because it presages a Conservative will continue the present govt's direction of political travel towards TOTAL GOVERNMENT.
The State has no right to determine the kind of private/personal relationships people should have with one another except where they are criminally oppressive. People should be free to choose the kind of relationship that is mutually acceptable to those with whom they are in 'partnership'.
All the State can or should do is to ensure those who govern set an exemplary role model in their private lives. And in thet respect, those who govern us have an inordinately wide range of opportunity to demonstrate their preferred standards of moral, ethical, philosophical, religious values etc etc. I may well share many of most of the same but that will be and should be my choice - not the choice of a Conservative or Socialist government!

[Libertarian]

From Guido's blog

"+++ Gove Took £2,000 From NUTS TV Production Company +++
Told you this moralising will come back to bite you:

"We should ask those who make profits out of revelling in, or encouraging, selfish irresponsibility among young men what they think they're doing...."
The NUTS TV production company gave his constituency office £2,000, all in all Red Fig Limited has given a total of £13,500 to the Conservative Party.

Guido has called, emailed and even texted the Govemeister persoanally to ask : What are you doing Michael?

UPDATE : "No comment, thank you" is the polite official response from his office."

Our Editor's comment was

"Tim Montgomerie said...
Michael Gove certainly can't be accused of being bought by NUTS then can he? Sure, this is a fun post but nothing of real note."

Really? Gove has publicly dissed one of his own donors. Waht a hpocrite! Do we really want someone with such a lack of judgement to run our schools?

[Malcolm Dunn]

'The Cameroonians continuing perversion of the Conservative concept of freedom'-Cllr Brendan Murphy.
I thought Libertarian's comments on this subject were wholly ridiculous but Brendan yours surely takes the biscuit!
I think if you read it again you might notice that Gove does not advocate the State doing anything. He is adhering to the Cameroonian 'perversion' of social responsibility. I thought most decent people would support him.

[Libertarian]

Well, Malcolm, take a read at Harry Phibbs' excellent debunking of Gove - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/05/conservatives.michaelgove. It is far better than anything I have read by your young men in Total Politics!

[M. Kalil]

On the question of gay couples having the right to adopt, I am with Lord Tebbit on this one. When are we ever going to turn our attention to the right of the child,in this case to be brought up by both a mother and a father? It is hard enough being a child these days;-never mind having the added burden of having two parents of the same sex.

[Ben, Newark]

"Helping adults commit", "Helping families under pressure" - how, by doing what, exactly? Sounds like a load of leftie social engineering to me.