A FAVOUR to ask. I know you are busy, so apologies, but the request is a matter of national importance. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get over to BBC iPlayer pronto and watch Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy before it is returned to the vault.

Once you have digested le Carre’s magnificent tale of spies and skulduggery in high and low places, could you turn your mind to answering the following question. Is Michael Gove a very silly overgrown schoolboy, or is he an agent placed by the SNP at the heart of the British Government to bring about Scottish independence?

He may not seem like much of a secret agent given how often he appears before the cameras, but history shows the best place to hide is in plain sight.

Mr Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has been a Conservative MP for 16 years and a Minister on and off for more than a decade. He is the man who is sent in front of the microphones and to the despatch box if the UK Government is in trouble. The ultimate safe pair of hands, then.

Yet when it comes to Scotland he has lips loose enough to sink the Union ship, which can prove pretty awkward since defending said Union is also among his ministerial responsibilities.

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Take his latest contribution. The morning after the sporting defeat of which we shall not speak, up pops Mr Gove, giving the Daily Telegraph the benefit of his thinking on the timing of a second Scottish independence referendum. Not before a General Election in 2024, he declared. It would be “at best reckless, at worst folly” to do so any earlier given the need to concentrate on the post-Covid recovery.

Until now, UK Ministers had quietly adopted Theresa May’s “not now” stance towards a referendum. Why did Mr Gove feel the need to go further and specify a date? The First Minister herself has said recovery from Covid will be the priority, although she has also mooted the idea of 2023 for indyref2. His date is a challenge to her and vice versa.

Given the damage to the economy, the NHS, education, and every other aspect of life, a second referendum has slipped well down the list of most people’s priorities. Why then renew the argument. Because it will incense the usual crowd? Because there is nothing like telling people they cannot have something to make them want it?

Not content with putting his size 11s in it on a date, Mr Gove then waded into legal questions just far enough, again, to provoke a response. He was asked if the Scottish Government tried to have a referendum without the UK Government’s approval, would Mr Gove and his boss take them to court.

I’m not the legal expert that you need to explore all these questions, began Mr Gove, as if that was going to stop him. “But, for the moment, I’m not thinking of taking anyone to court.” Lovely insertion of “for the moment” there. Well done, Minister.

Humble as you like, he went on: “I don’t want to be on the end of writs or anything like that. I want to be on the end of a telephone talking to Nicola … working with them to get a better deal for people in Scotland.” (Between taking calls from Mr Gove and batting away Andy Burnham’s demands for compensation for the travel ban, the First Minister will barely have the time to go on the telly.)

There was more: Boris Johnson’s unpopularity in Scotland is a myth fed by nationalists; Ian Blackford was “a lovely chap and a good friend” – ooft – and so on. Enough to say that if starting a fight in an empty house was an Olympic sport, Mr Gove would take the gold, closely followed by Alex Salmond and Ms Sturgeon.

Instead of using incendiary language like reckless, foolish and folly, he could have been more positive, upbeat. Drop a few of those love bombs we are always told are on the way. Consider all this and the case for Mr Gove being a not so secret agent planted by the SNP begins to take shape.

The First Minister seemed close to reaching the same conclusion yesterday, saying: “Every time we hear that kind of sneering, arrogant condescension from Michael Gove – or whatever UK Government minister it may be – completely refusing to accept Scottish democracy, actually the more they just build support for independence."

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Perhaps scepticism remains. He is, after all, Scottish. Born and bred here. Do not let that constituency of Surrey Heath fool you. He knows a lot about the place, still has family here, and is as patriotic about Scotland as he is about the UK. In short, the ideal cover for an agent.

One could take the notion further. Mr Gove is one of the great survivors of British politics. A journalist before entering politics, he has a Where’s Wally talent for melting into any environment he is in. Ask some of those who worked with him what he was like and they tend to say clever, a good laugh, nice guy.

There is the matter, however, of how he bounced back from stabbing Boris Johnson in the front during the party leadership race.

He not only returned from the tundra to which he was banished, he was given a seat by the fire by Mr Johnson.

It is difficult to think of a comparable betrayal that has been forgiven to such an extent. Unless Mr Gove’s position is protected because he is too valuable an asset, which would make him, what, a double agent?

George Smiley would be better able to work it out. The rest of us, the ones who believe it genuinely is important to put Covid recovery first, will continue to wonder what Mr Gove is playing at.

He is not the only one prone to going out on manoeuvres. One wonders when the First Minister will engage substantially in the constitutional battle once more, or is that being saved for the next party conference?

Regardless, a period of restraint would be most welcome from both sides. As the First Minister is always keen to point out, Covid is not done with us yet. The next chapter, dealing with the terrible consequences of lockdown, particularly for children, is only just beginning.

No-one knows how great the damage will turn out to be. Scrapping over dates when so many are fearful of the future and trying to cope with today? Now that really is at best reckless and at worst folly.