Guido went along to the second day of the National Conservative Conference this afternoon to watch Madeline Grant’s “fireside chat” with Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove. The pair spent the first 15 minutes or so discussing conservative values, the culture wars, and whether his fellow Tory MPs now remind him of LibDems. “No” was the answer, none of his colleagues remind him of Chris Huhne…

Eventually they moved on to housing. Grant pushed Gove for his view on disillusioned young people abandoning conservatism as a consequence of a high cost of living and unaffordable homes. Gove admitted “there simply aren’t enough houses in this country“, and claimed Rishi has asked him “explicitly” to “look at” the problems for first time buyers. He added the government was “absolutely committed to more houses being built“… although they also needed to consider “other conservative values as well”. “Anything new that is built will either be an eyesore for generations to come, or an object of reverence to come”… 

That’ll inevitably set the cat amongst the pigeons with the “unofficial YIMBY entente“. In Guido’s view, “generic“ housing is still better than no housing. Gove also said he doesn’t think net migration will come close to hitting one million this year. Here’s hoping…