Gove heads for clash with Lib Dems over Ofsted job

The Lib Dems have warned they will not accept a “Tory donor ideologue” to chair the watchdog amid reports that Theodore Agnew, an insurance magnate who worked closely with Mr Gove before the 2010 general election, was being lined up to replace the Labour peer, Baroness Morgan of Huyton.

The education secretary insisted the appointment would be made on merit and that it would be “quite wrong” to rule out a suitable candidate simply because he was a Conservative.

“I want to make sure that we have the widest range of candidates and I don’t think anyone should be ruled out on the basis of their political allegiance,” he told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show.

“If someone is a distinguished former Labour minister and they want to put their hat in the ring, then I would look favourably on that. If there’s a distinguished Liberal Democrat educationalist, great.

“If there’s someone who’s a Conservative, why should they be ruled out just because they are a Conservative? I think that would be quite wrong.”

Surprise over Lady Morgan’s ‘sacking’

The Lib Dems were already angry with Mr Gove over his surprise decision not to reappoint Lady Morgan for a second term.

Mr Gove’s Lib Dem deputy, Schools Minister David Laws, was said to be “absolutely furious” at what he saw as a blatant attempt to “politicise” Ofsted.

A source close to Mr Laws said: “The decision to get rid of Sally Morgan had absolutely nothing to do with her abilities, or even education policy, and everything to do with Michael Gove’s desire to get his own people on board.

“David Laws is absolutely determined not to let Michael undermine the independence of this vital part of the education system.”

Mr Gove denied Lady Morgan had been removed because she was Labour, saying she had done a “fantastic job” at Ofsted but that it was “good corporate practice” to regularly “refresh” the leadership of such organisations.

“From time to time you need to refresh the person who is the chair of a particular body in order to bring a new pair of eyes to bear. At the end of an individual term I think it is appropriate to consider whether or not we might need to have a new person who can bring a new perspective,” he said.