The Conservatives have fought the last three general elections on the policy of a new grammar school in every town. A quick quiz question: who wrote the 2001 manifesto? Correct, David Willetts. Another question: who wrote the 2005 manifesto? Correct, David Cameron. A third question (and you may need to phone a friend on this one: which candidate in the 2005 leadership contest ran on a continuation of that policy? Correct, David Davis. And a final starter for ten: which candidate did David Willetts support in that contest? Correct, David Davis.
Yesterday’s speech by David Willetts signalled the end of the Conservative Party’s support for grammar schools. Well, for the time being anyway. David Cameron has done much to annoy parts of the Conservative Party over the last eighteen months and the Party has raised barely a whimper. The fact that he won the leadership election by such a huge margin has always shielded him for any outright criticism.
But the issue of grammar schools is totemic for many Conservatives, no matter which wing of the Party they are on. The reaction to the Willetts speech has been volcanic. He was ripped apart at the 1922 Committee by MPs who were angry at being bounced on such an important issue. The education policy commission hasn’t even reported yet and its members are furious that their findings should be pre-empted.
At least one Shadow Minister has threatened to resign in the last 24 hours. Tory MP Mark Field has called the speech “shaming” in an article for ConservativeHome. Grassroots activists are bombarding their local parties and MPs. Many have said they won’t vote Tory again. To some extent you always get this reaction but I detect that this time they mean it.
So is this a Clause 4 moment which several Cameronistas have been searching for? More like a Clause two and a half, I suspect. The fact that The Guardian and The Independent have welcomed what Willetts has said says it all. It’s all very well constantly appealing to the centre ground – a strategy I agree with – but centre ground voters send their children to grammar schools too. In the end, this debate should be about academic excellence as well as social mobility. It appears to be something which Mr Willetts has forgotten.
