Gove said: "We expect to double the number of academies currently planned. We will be on course for academies to become the norm in secondary education." The party would allow hundreds of the best-performing comprehensives to become academies and opt out of the national curriculum. In return they will be required to partner with an underperforming school to share their innovations and practice. Gove said: "Tony Blair became a death-bed convert to the cause of educational freedom....