Gove wants more scrutiny over ‘experts’

MICHAEL GOVE has said that experts are too often treated as prophets, as he called for more scrutiny of their predictions.

The former education secretary has been widely criticised for saying people had had enough of experts during the EU referendum campaign.

The prominent Leave campaigner clarified his comments on the Radio 4 Today programme, saying they were aimed at economists from organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He added: “Sometimes we’re invited to take experts as though they were prophets, as though their words were carved in tablets of stone and that we had to simply meekly bow down before them and accept their verdict.

“I think the right response in a democracy to assertions made by experts is to say ‘show us the evidence, show us the facts’.

“And then, if experts, or indeed anyone in the debate, can make a strong case, draw on evidence and let us think again, then of course they deserve respect.”

Mr Gove cited an academic study that showed experts in a range of fields were more susceptible to group think, and that other experts besides economists could be treated as more reliable guides for future trends.

He added: “The people I was singling out for scepticism were those such as the economists from organisations like the IMF, who’ve got big issues like the wisdom of joining the euro wrong in the past.

“The IMF didn’t just get the arguments wrong over the single currency, they called the EU referendum wrongly too.”

Mr Gove went on to say: “Experience can teach us a great deal.”