大象传媒

Education Secretary Michael Gove is in the thick of a political storm over plans for radical changes to English education. But this highly influential figure in today's Conservative party has a background far from the gilded youths of David Cameron or George Osborne. The adopted son of an Aberdeen fish merchant, who used to carry an encyclopaedia to and from school, became a star student debater, and had the most varied of media careers, believes education is the key to transforming lives.

But why has he become such a significant figure in modern Conservatism? And how easy has the transition been from commentating and debating to running a Whitehall department? With education potentially one of the most radical areas of new government activity, Gove's own fate in the next few months and years will be central to the fate of the government as a whole. Chris Bowlby discovers what has shaped this distinctive and unusual political career.