The Andrew Marr Show, Sophy Ridge on Sunday, review

Whatever one thinks of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster’s politics, there is no doubting Mr Gove’s boomerang-like ability to be pitched far into the political distance, only to return some time later. It is only three years since he first backed Boris Johnson for Tory leader then said he was not up to the job. Johnson’s bid was fatally compromised. A Johnson supporter accused Gove of perpetrating “one of the biggest acts of treachery I have ever seen”. Even in a party with a notable history of defenestration, Mr Gove’s deed was deemed beyond the pale.

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Mr Gove got it in the neck recently from former Prime Minister David Cameron, who accused him, together with fellow Leave campaign leader Boris Johnson, of “leaving the truth at home” during the EU referendum battle. Gove’s decision to depart Cameron’s side for Leave was disastrous for the then PM politically and personally. The relationship between the two men, and their families, once very close, has never recovered.

You might think, given his track record, that Mr Gove would be any leader’s last choice for a wartime consigliere. But here he is, the man in charge of delivering Brexit, the Cabinet Minister wheeled out on the big occasions to reassure where his PM might rile. Mrs Thatcher once said every PM needs a Willie (Whitelaw). Contemporary Tory leaders, from Cameron and May to Johnson, appear unable to manage without a Michael (Gove), at least until he decides he can do without them. His performance on Marr shows why.

First, he is as comfortable before the camera as he would be watching TV in his home. Hardly surprising given his extensive career in broadcasting before settling in print and moving into politics. Second, he’s ferociously combative yet polite, always quick to talk about his opponents’ failings rather than his own party’s. As Marr noted, Mr Gove seemed more interested in attacking the SNP than Labour. A sign that he puts faith in polls out yesterday showing a healthy lead for the Conservatives? An acknowledgement that the SNP pose the biggest danger to the Tories in Scotland? Finally, there is Gove’s ability to stick to the script, to be his master’s voice. “All the lines, well done,” Marr congratulated him at the end of an interview in which he had dutifully spoken of the Johnson withdrawal bill being “oven ready”, of the need to “get Brexit” done, and so on.

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Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson is another politician fond of sticking to her script. For every Tory cry of “Get Brexit done” she has answered with a shout of “Stop Brexit”. Yet her consistency does not appear to be doing her any favours. Polling has shown her popularity among voters has waned since she won the leadership. Last Friday, during the Question Time leaders’ special, she was given the hardest time by the studio audience. The main trouble lay not in her current script, but a past one. In Sheffield she was tackled several times about her record while a minister in the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government. Marr returned to the attack yesterday, asking why she had backed a hefty cut in the social care budget, in police numbers, and so on. Her defence, that the economic circumstances demanded belt tightening, did not go down well in Sheffield.

Why has Michael Gove been able to leave his past behind, but not Jo Swinson? With Mr Gove, it is as if he has one of those memory wipers from the Men in Black movie, but Ms Swinson has a device that has the opposite effect, summoning up the past to her detriment. Whatever the reasons and causes it matters. Her party chose to place her front and centre, to put her picture on the side of a bus. They invested so heavily in her that it is now difficult, perhaps impossible, for others to step forward.

Marr’s land grab did not cut the time allotted to Sunday Politics Scotland, which was just as well. It featured an extended interview with Health Secretary Jeane Freeman over the deaths of two children at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. Given the circumstances, and the coverage in many Scottish newspapers, it was the right decision to focus so much time on this subject. It was just a pity that Gordon Brewer’s interview had to eventually make way for yet another panel of talking heads discussing the past week in the General Election. As if television has been short of those lately. On occasion, and this was one of them, running orders should be ditched in favour of going with the flow.

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Sophy Ridge on Sunday featured a profile of East Renfrewshire. Fascinating as that was – and I particularly liked the vox pop in which one self-censoring local said politicians had made “a big backside” of Brexit – the interview later with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had its own rewards.

The news line was Ms Sturgeon’s insistence that scrapping Trident would be part of the price for SNP support for a minority Labour Government. Watching the First Minister, the eye was naturally drawn to the background. From past photos it looked like the interview was being done at her home - same wooden bookcases, same fitted style. Naturally, the nosey viewer (guilty) got closer to the telly to check out the FM’s book choices. Ridge was at the same game, remarking that the FM was quite the fan of Ian Rankin. “I always look forward to getting back to my books,” said Ms Sturgeon.

Just one last thing, as Lieutenant Columbo would say: the books appeared to be in alphabetical order. One for the armchair psychologists out there, perhaps?