Who's In Charge?

Evening all!

First off, as Jonathan Ross said about the debate, "Wasn't it dull?" And at times, with the audience being incapable of saying much, I was inclined to agree. Gentlemen! I propose the next round should involve you rapping your manifestos to the tune of the Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight. Or perhaps Vanilla Ice would be more appropriate.

Anyhoo, listen to this: "While Nick Clegg is a very attractive individual in many ways, the policies of his party are outside the mainstream and a little bit eccentric - not necessarily what you would want at a time of crisis and difficulty"

So which Conservative frontman said that? Presumably, as he was at the debate last night in person, it was the Right Honourable Mr David Cameron, MP. But no, he said Mr Clegg had had "a good debate".

What about Mr Osborne? No, not him either. And it wasn't William Hague or Chris Grayling: the former being a strong Shadow Foreign Secretary, the latter being a somewhat liable Shadow Home Secretary.

In actual fact, it was this man.

Remember him? As I've said before, Michael Gove could easily have a big future in the Conservative Party: and whatever happens to David Cameron, I cannot see anyone else being a bigger challenge to him for the leadership. Osborne has to hope Cameron succeeds, and succeeds more than once, for him to be a viable successor: Gove will obviously want Cameron to win, but will benefit if he fails to win two successive elections.

If Clegg's stock continues to rise - and it's still a sizeable if, don't forget - then so will Gove's. He is the one on the attack; he is the one with the soundbites; he is the one the newspapers are quoting most. He also has 174,000 Google hits: make of that one what you will. He even has a weekly column in The Times, which is arguably the most mainstream of all the Conservative-supporting newspapers.

This is a man who is going places. And crucially, he is not reliant on Cameron being a great PM. Osborne will be sacked if things go badly; Hague cannot be leader again; Kenneth Clarke has been denied such a position three times.

I'm not saying Gove will be leader anytime soon: I still believe Cameron is the best Conservative leader for quite some time. And thankfully, he is not the same as Thatcher: he is ruthless, but he is not the only fighter in the gang.

But if he slips up too many times, someone like Gove will be quietly waiting. Not with a dagger, like Brutus: but with a rousing speech, like Mark Anthony.

Which is fitting, because at times that debate felt like a clunky production of Shakespeare. Like I said: Sugar Hill Gang.

Chris