For the incumbent Conservative party torn between free markets and nimbyism, home ownership and growing big-state instincts, this poses a serious challenge.

Gove argues that boosting social rented property is the way into home ownership as renters will be able to save more to buy a home of their own.

To achieve this, one option is to scrap the Section 106 rules – under which developers agree to build a set proportion of affordable homes, either for sale at a discount or below-market rent – and replace it with a flat levy on development. This could be given to councils to do the building themselves.

Will Tanner, director of centre-right think tank Onward, argues Section 106 is “well-intentioned” but that commitments to build more affordable homes are often “negotiated down” once construction has begun. A levy giving as much as £7bn per year to councils could allow them to get on with more building.

He adds: “Ensuring people have a safe, secure home in which to live, to bring up their family, to secure them within their community is a long-standing Conservative tradition.”

David O’Leary at the Home Builders’ Federation, however, questions whether councils have the ability to build on a sufficiently large scale.

While the “imperfect” current system has reduced the number of properties built for social rent in favour of other affordable schemes such as shared ownership, which brings in more money, O’Leary says it “broadly works to deliver what local priorities are at any given time”.

Meanwhile, focusing solely on social housing misses the point that the entire market is short of homes, argues Kristian Niemietz at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

More council construction “is not an alternative to the planning reform which Gove has just ditched,” he says, referring to plans to build more homes in rural areas, which were abandoned after the Conservatives lost the Chesham and Amersham by-election last June.

The aim was to have “a rules-based” system clearly setting out what construction would be allowed. Niemietz concedes it would be “initially unpopular” as building tends to attract nimbys, but ultimately become liked as housing becomes more affordable.

“You have to increase supply to bring prices down eventually,” says Niemietz.

Alex Morton at the Centre for Policy Studies recommends reviving the 2015 manifesto pledge to give 2m families in housing association properties the right to buy their homes in a dramatic expansion of the old policy, while constructing new properties to replace those which are sold and so maintain the stock of low-cost rental homes.

 “While more social housing has a role, there is a need to ensure ownership remains at the heart of the Tory offering – as it is in voter aspirations. 

Michael Gove’s thoughtful nature should be able to manage both – or this risks voters feeling their hopes are being abandoned,” he says.

“While it is right to highlight helping social tenants into ownership, the best way to do this is deliver the promised Right to Buy extension for nearly 2m households in housing association properties.”

That would be a real return to Thatcherism.

Even ‘Thatcher-worshipping’ Tories want more social housing, declares Michael Gove

Michael Gove has said even the most “Thatcher worshipping” people want more social housing as he raised the prospect of increasing the amount of Government land used to build homes.

Falling rates of home ownership, combined with the rising price of property and surging private rents, mean the Government needs to boost the supply of houses, the Housing Secretary told a conference hosted by the charity Shelter.

“We’ve reached a situation for a variety of reasons where the number of people living in social housing, the availability of social housing, is simply inadequate for any notion of social justice or economic efficiency,” he said.

Providing more homes is a Conservative answer to the problem, he said, invoking the legacy of Margaret Thatcher whose right to buy policy enabled more council tenants to become homeowners.

“The number of people who have been able to access ownership – to own their own home – in this country has been declining for years now. It’s a cause of concern for me as a Conservative because I believe that the aspiration to own one’s own home one day is a noble thing,” Mr Gove said.

“Even the most – how can I put it – Thatcher-worshipping, home ownership-fetishising, capital-accumulating members of this audience… you want more social housing. Because you want people to be in decent homes where they can pursue the jobs that they love and save one day for a home that they might want to call their own.”

Lower rents would help more people save a deposit to get on to the housing ladder, he said.

“If people are in the private rented sector paying the rents they are – particularly in our major cities – the ability to save to acquire… that capital for a deposit is vanishingly small,” he said.

He added: “The case for more social housing – the ‘why’ – I think is increasingly well-understood and has been made by Shelter for years now. But it’s an argument that has reached not just maturity, but urgency in our political debate.”