It is a source of constant joy to Conservative politicians picking apart Labour’s education policy that the shadow education secretary, Tristram Hunt, went to a private school. And now his education is coming back to bite him yet again, as the headmaster of his old school, University College School in Hampstead, gives him a telling off for his new proposals.
This week, Hunt unveiled Labour’s new plans to force private schools to partner with the state sector or lose £700m in tax relief. And his former headmaster, Mark Beard, isn’t happy about it. Writing in the Telegraph, he said:
Dr Hunt’s proposals are deeply depressing – and not just because of the questionable legality of a government in effect removing charitable status for political reasons. (Did he nothing learn from Michael Gove’s abortive attempt to make Ofsted inspect independent schools?) His position is that, if they are unwilling to do more to help the state sector, independent schools will be treated as purely commercial enterprises. Why, then, should they not behave as such? Treat private schools as pariahs and you remove any pretence of encouraging them to play their part in society.
. . . rather than relying on independent schools to solve the problems of the 93 per cent of pupils in the state sector, isn’t it time for Labour to come up with some helpful and forward-thinking initiatives, rather than espousing the old “them and us” propaganda?
He also told the Telegraph Hunt’s plans espouse “what some might deem an offensive bigotry”.
Detention!
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