Michael Gove's Ministry of Justice promotion threatens to reignite personality clash which could impact on who succeeds Cameron

A bitter row between Mr Gove and Theresa May forced him to issue an embarrassing apology while the Home Secretary lost her closest adviser

Michael Gove's promotion could intensify a personality clash with Theresa May which has already caused disruptions to the Tories (Getty Images)

Michael Gove’s promotion to head of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) threatens to intensify a personality clash which caused ructions in the Cabinet last year – and could have an impact on who eventually succeeds David Cameron.

A bitter row between Mr Gove, who was then the Education Secretary, and Theresa May forced him to issue an embarrassing apology, while the Home Secretary lost her closest adviser.

Two of the Conservative Party’s biggest beasts will have to put their acrimonious past behind them as they run departments with overlapping remits and conflicting interests. The potential for renewed confrontation at the heart of government is obvious.

It is only 11 months since the ministers fell out spectacularly over who was to blame for the “Trojan horse” affair, the infiltration of Birmingham schools by Islamic fundamentalists.

A briefing war broke out as “sources close to Michael Gove” accused the Home Office and its chief counter-terrorism expert of failing to “drain the swamp” of extremism in Britain.

Ms May’s department retaliated by releasing a letter to Mr Gove in which she complained he had failed to act on warnings about Birmingham schools. Mr Cameron intervened, ordering his Education Secretary to apologise, while Ms May’s special adviser Fiona Cunningham paid with her job for briefing against her rival.

Weeks later, the Prime Minister appeared to have drained the swamp of his ministers’ mutual animosity when he demoted Mr Gove to Chief Whip. Now the pair will have to work together in a more civil fashion as Mr Gove takes over at the MoJ, where he will oversee prisons and probation, sentencing, criminal justice and scrapping the Human Rights Act.

At the education department he developed a reputation as a radical reformer and is bound to arrive in his new berth with the same instincts (although he has presumably abandoned support for the return of hanging, which he advocated as a columnist before he entered politics).

Michael Gove has now become Justice Secretary (Getty) (Getty Images)

The obstacle to maintaining smooth relations with his previous adversary is that their departments are closely interlinked. It is only eight years since the MoJ was carved out of the Home Office and they even share a minister with responsibility for criminal justice.

Decisions taken by Ms May on legislation could have an impact on numbers in the courts and the jails run by Mr Gove, while her success or failure in deporting foreign offenders has an impact on relieving pressure on the prison system. The departments also have a joint interest in combating radicalisation of prisoners.

Last year’s clash also illuminated the different attitudes between them over the role of government. Mr Gove believes politicians have a duty to bring about change, as demonstrated by his constant zeal for reform while in charge of the education system, while Ms May is a cautious “non-intervener” who responds to crises as they arise rather than attempting social engineering.

Their differences are underpinned by their potential longer-term rivalry over the future direction of the Conservative Party. Mr Gove is widely believed to favour George Osborne or, failing that, Boris Johnson, as Mr Cameron’s successor. In other words, anyone but Theresa May.