Leading figure of British Conservatism Michael Gove joined Aditya Chakrabortty in the latest episode of the Radical Thinking podcast to discuss the future of the right, his record on Brexit and austerity, and the Spectator’s position on Islam. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
For more than three decades, Michael Gove has been a leading figure in British Conservatism. As a journalist, government minister and now editor of the Tory bible the Spectator, he has helped shape the right even as it has moved further rightwards.
In the podcast, Gove defended his key policy decisions, including Brexit and austerity. Acknowledging that austerity is “inevitably painful,” he justified it as a necessary measure. He also explained the Spectator’s editorial stance on Islam.
In this episode, Aditya Chakrabortty and Gove discuss the future of the British right, including the current crisis of the Conservative Party and its attempts to build a coalition of voters. They also touch on the Spectator’s position on Islam, particularly referencing Nesrine Malik’s recent Guardian column asking why Britain’s oldest political magazine has become such a rabid cheerleader for Islamophobia.
The podcast participants offer listeners further reading: Michael Gove’s essay in a 1998 collection called The Moderniser’s Dilemma: Radical Politics in the Age of Blair, historian Richard J Evans’s article “The Demented Dalek” in the London Review of Books, Aditya’s Guardian column on the British right, Phil Burton-Cartledge’s book The Party’s Over: The Rise and Fall of the Conservatives from Thatcher to Sunak, and Geoffrey Wheatcroft’s book Bloody Panico!.
Additionally, they recommend a paper on the economics of the Cameron years, a paper based on Bank of England data suggesting Brexit may have cost the UK 8% of GDP, and Nesrine Malik’s column on the Spectator.
The podcast is presented by Aditya Chakrabortty with Michael Gove, produced by Frankie Tobi and Luke John Smith; the executive producers are Maz Ebtehaj and Kirsty Major. A link is provided to watch the full episode with Michael Gove.