We’re in The Nightmare Before Xmas

IT SOUNDS like the poster for the latest Christmas blockbuster: “Only one man can save Christmas – trouble is, it’s Michael Gove.”

In Hollywood, it would be a slapstick adventure with a feelgood ending as the merry elf who gets into all sorts of scrapes before saving the day.

But this isn’t Hollywood. It’s Britain, where the shelves are empty, the workers have all gone and crisis is piled upon crisis.

The PM has gambled. He’s backed his great rival to deliver the goods. Maybe Mr Gove can. But we wouldn’t bet on it.

After all, Gove and Johnson are the pair that brought us Brexit. And that’s not working out so far.

Crisis

A shortage of HGV drivers, problems with imports and a lack of agricultural workers are all contributing to our current crisis.

There are just 13 weeks to get goods moving again and make sure families have everything for the big day. It’s not a lot of time.

Mr Gove has a reputation for being an able and astute politician.

Sometimes it’s not quite clear where that comes from. Teachers are still scarred from his time at the Department for Education and Brexit speaks for itself.

Footage of him dancing – if you can call it that – in an Aberdeen nightclub hardly reassured us that this was a great statesman.

He has a big task ahead of him and either succeeds and saves Christmas or we have another disaster. Put simply, if we wake up with nothing to unwrap but a PCR test, then it’s Bad Santa.

If he delivers the goods, well, It’s a Wonderful Life.