This is getting embarrassing.
I’m not sure what David Cameron was aiming to do when he pledged not to build anymore grammar schools. Though, if he was aiming to shoot himself in the foot, then he was astonishingly accurate.
To pick a fight with your party and sack a shadow minister in the process is one thing. But to go to all this trouble and then be forced into a u-turn is quite another.
Where was the political judgement when this was decided?
Did no one think to calculate the scale of the opposition within Tory ranks? Or to ask the opinion of the shadow cabinet?
Did no one think that this was one fight Cameron might lose?
They clearly didn’t think of Dominic Grieve, who is a Buckinghamshire MP. This is significant because Buckinghamshire retained its grammar schools, and Grieve promised his constituents that if additional grammar schools were needed they would be supplied.
Cameron, having already lost one shadow minister, was forced into a u-turn, despite the argument that grammar schools “entrench social inequality”.
Less than a fortnight ago Cameron told us that he wanted to see “pupils choosing schools rather than schools choosing pupils.” His u-turn contradicts this. Incidentally, so too do the views of David Willets (shadow education minister), when he revealed that rather than parents selecting a suitable City Academy, the governors would be able to select pupils by race.
This web of u-turns and contradictions could be the unravelling of Cameron’s Education policy.
03/06/2007 at 09:28 |
As a former grammar schoool pupil from Bucks I stand wholeheratedly behind Mr Grieve as well as all the other MPs for Buckinghmashire who have all untied behind the issue. IT is also worth noting that Grieve was saying nothing new, his comments were just pciked up in the media as the storm began – David Liddington, like Grieve a very loyal Shadow Cabinet member spoke out about it within hours.
Sadly, one party needs to unite and have these debates intenrally rather than in front of the public. This is not a clause four moment, it is just poor media handling, it must not be played by Cameron as such – he will just be handing his opponents the stick to beat him with. The party must recover from thsi swiftly and go on the attack against Blair who’s swanning around the world (so much for the green agenda) and Brown whose lack of substance which Cameron was oft criticised for should be picked up upon.
03/06/2007 at 09:40 |
I agree, but would add one thing. I think Mr Grieve’s comments were significant, because he effectively forced the leadership into a position where they could not rule out building further grammar schools in the areas that retain selection at 11; Buckinghamshire and Kent for example.
This leaves the policy in a mess.
This morning a shadow cabinet minister who’s name escapes me, was interviewed. The interviewer asked what the Conservative’s policy on grammar schools now was. The response was a bit ridiculous; We think grammar schools entrench inequality on the one hand, but on the other hand the existing grammar schools can continue to do so, and new grammar schools in areas such as Buckinghamshire can entrench it still further.
Will be interesting to see how Cameron sorts this.
03/06/2007 at 10:22 |
The most embarrasing part of this whole debarcle, aside from Cameron labelling 75% of his members as “dillusional” and the sensational u-turn! is that we are often charged with being all spin no substance. Here was a chance for him to focus on policy and he chose GRAMMAR SCHOOLS!!!!???? As i mentioned the day after Willets comments this was ridiculous to say the least. There is far more we should be focusing on. One of the greatest criticism of the new tory party is we havent focused enough on policy, and now our policy is in tatters and the leadership looks embarrased whilst the party looks disunited. I also heard there had been a defection of over 100 torys to ukip? All in all not a good week to be a tory….again.
03/06/2007 at 22:16 |
I couldn’t agree more Dan. It’s all a very bizarre debacle this Grammar school issue. He’s risking the loss of major grassroots support to court the ‘floaters’. Yet he could have gained them on so many other issues rather than one that is so close to the Tory heartland. If he sticks to his guns, which to avoid embarrassment he will have too, then I think there maybe defections. I think it shows that we are yet to find an operator as skillful as Blair. It’s sad really, for a few months I quite believed in David Cameron…..