Ask me my three main priorities for Government, and I tell you: education, education and education. Tony Blair’s speech at the Labour Party Conference, 1 October 1996

“[Gove] apologised, however, when the list of terminated school-building projects he had released was found to be inaccurate; the list was reannounced several times before it was finally accurately published. ¹

Tony Blair’s triumph in 1997 was powered by his inspirational mantra Education, Education, Education.² Thirteen years later, cocaine user Michael Gove,³ unravelled Blair’s achievements. His extremist ideology and lack of ability led to a flamboyant disdain for detail. He never understood the consequences of his decision to close the school building programme (see above). Gove is a metaphor for Conservative maladministration. His cavalier destruction of the school-building programme resulted in hundreds of schools, in 2023, being shut because they could collapse.⁴

Gove wasn’t a one-off. Five Conservative prime ministers have promoted people to lead Britain’s education system, with their ability being irrelevant. The only qualification was being an obedient nodding donkey. In 13 years, there have been ten Secretaries of State for Education.⁵ Thirteen years of mediocrity or, worse, arrogant incompetence.

Ministers don’t commit when they know they’ll only have the job for a few months.

A key educational issue is the impact of poverty on outcomes. “More than 70% of children from the richest tenth of families earn five good GCSEs, compared with fewer than 30% in the poorest households.”⁷

George Osborne promptly increased child poverty in 2010 by freezing Child Benefit. Every year the poorest families had their Child benefit reduced by 2.3%. [of inflation] For the middle-classes this was ‘invisible’ but for people living in poverty the £1.72 a week cut was a disaster. A total of an 8.5% decrease in purchasing power for people counting every penny.⁸

Ministerial incompetence was time-lagged and invisible until Covid-19 struck. Gavin Williamson was incompetent in real time. He didn’t appreciate shutting schools and teaching remotely depended on home computers.⁹ He was oblivious to life in poverty.

More than one in 20 children (6%) are sleeping on the floor due to not having a bed of their own in the last 12 months, according to a new YouGov survey for children’s charity Barnardo’s. Around one in ten children (9%) also said they had shared a bed with another member of their family because they didn’t have a bed of their own. ¹⁰

Parents who couldn’t afford beds obviously didn’t have computers, or expensive internet connexions. Poor children were excluded from their legal right to an education: excluded by poverty. Williamson and Osborne were extreme right-wing politicians who’d sacrifice anyone to fit in with their world-view. This applied to all groups except pensioners. Pensioners kept them in political power. They were bribed with Triple Lock increases to make sure they never lost out from inflation.¹¹

The politics of education has been acted out like a game. The national interest relies on a well-educated population, not just an intellectual elite. Thirteen years of Conservative rule has buried equality in Britain and the economy and the quality of life for everyone will suffer. Blair was right. The three most important policies for any government are Education, Education, Education.

Notes

1 Michael Gove’s tenure as Education Secretary – Wikipedia
2 Bing Videos
3 Michael Gove admits he was lucky to avoid jail over cocaine use – BBC News
4 The list of shame is here RAAC list in full: All the schools affected by aerated concrete in England and how many are closed (inews.co.uk)
5 In order from 2010. Michael Gove, Nicky Morgan, Justine Greening, Damian Hinds, Gavin Williamson, Nadhim Zahawi, Michelle Donelan, James Cleverly, Kit Malthouse and Gillian Keegan
6 All the evidence suggests he doesn’t have either attribute.
7 The UK education system preserves inequality – new report | Institute for Fiscal Studies (ifs.org.uk)  The Institute of Fiscal Studies is a right-wing think tank
8 Inflation calculator | Bank of England
9 Lockdown laptops: Thousands of devices donated to pupils – BBC News
10 Children sleeping on the floor and sharing mouldy and soiled beds as cost-of-living crisis continues | Barnardo’s (barnardos.org.uk)
11 What is a triple lock pension? Your simple explanation to the new state pension changes – Heart