In Michael Gove’s otherwise sombre speech to parliament on Tuesday announcing a team of commissioners to run the cash-strapped Labour-run Birmingham council, the communities secretary could not resist a swipe at his political opponents.
“I think it important for us to recognise that the intervention in Birmingham, and our [previous] interventions in Sandwell and Liverpool, have all been interventions in Labour-led local authorities in which comprehensive mismanagement extended back over years,” he said.
