When I call Gove a fascist, I'm not engaging in the usual messageboard over-exaggeration. In a very real sense, he is a modern fascist.
Fascism is making citizens subservient to a state which is run for and by big business. Note Gove's role at the DFE was to privatise the schools system and hand it over to the private sector. Every democratic part of the system which provided any control or accountability for citizens was removed: teacher governors, parent governors and LEA oversight were all based in local democracy. Gove has removed all three, and replaced it with a model of private companies, called MATs, which are intended to run all schools. These are not answerable to teachers, parents or their local communities. The largest of these MAT companies, like ARK and Harris, were invited to send their owners to the DFE management Board, where they are members. In this way, Government policy is directed by large companies, for large companies. Billions of pounds of assets and income have been transferred from public ownership and accountability to this corporate machine.
Fascism is also being willing to whip up mob hatred of "the other" as a scapegoat for economic ills. I don't need to point out what Gove has been party to in the last month. But he also did precisely this when at Education. He identified teachers as the "other", and launched an endless campaign of lies and misinformation, labelling them "enemies of promise", and "the blob", to attempt to create a justification for his privatisation. He has recently done this to immigrants generally, and he will do it again in due course.
Fascism is also when organs of the media are marshalled to push propaganda in a concerted fashion, to distort truth and build support for fascist positions. It is worth noting that both Murdoch and Rothermere have long been on record as wanting Gove to be PM. Gove worked for Murdoch, and his wife is a columnist for Rothermere. We can now expect the Mail and the Sun to tell as many lies cheerleading Gove's leadership campaign as they did during the referendum campaign.
Fascism is also notable for attracting a large proportion of psychopaths and sociopaths. I would point you to Dominic Cummings, who has been Gove's right-hand man since he became a minister, and is certifiably insane. People he worked with at DFE described him in all seriousness as a psychopath, and so did David Cameron. His appearance before the Parliamentary Select Committee in his role as Leave campaign manager would have been comic if it wasn't so terrifying. This is a man with utter contempt for truth, democracy, or even basic levels of politeness. He is a true psychopath, and Gove will install him at No10.
One final point. Nigel Farage is on record as saying that the only Tory leader he could cut a deal with is Gove. Nigel Farage is an out and out fascist. More brutal and less polished than Gove, certainly, but a fascist nonetheless. In every way, his policies and Gove's policies are identical - privatise all public services, including the NHS, remove all employment protections, ban any trade union power whatsoever.
Everyone, whether they voted Leave or Remain, should be terrified. Gove is the smiling face of 21st Century Fascism.
