Education Bill

They certainly did! The hon. Gentleman should listen, because he fails to appreciate that schools such as Mossbourne academy have head teachers who recognise that every child deserves an academic education. He can sneer if he likes, but if those 10 children had been in a school where he was the head teacher, they would not have had the opportunity to go to Cambridge. He would have said to them, ““I'm terribly sorry, but it's not for the likes of you.”” He would have said of their studying academic subjects, ““I'm terribly sorry, you're not good enough.”” It is that culture of ““know your place””, of enforced mediocrity and of denying opportunity and aspiration that the Bill directly challenges. The reason that there is so much discomfort among those on the Labour Front Bench is that they have been rumbled. They pose as meritocrats, but in fact, whenever an educational change comes about that tells people from disadvantaged backgrounds that they can achieve far more than they ever imagined, they say, ““Oh no, we don't want that. We don't like it. It's inappropriate.”” For that reason, the unrepentant and unreformed socialists who form an increasing part of the representation on the Labour Benches object. It will be interesting to see whether every Labour Member votes against the Bill tonight, or whether some are sufficiently enlightened and reformist to see merit in the proposals and in aspiration, and to join us in supporting it.