April 26: Free school doubts - how KCC leader Carter handed Labour a gift
Comments |
There has been some frenzied efforts by the Conservative
party to mount a damage limitation exercise after KCC Tory leader
Cllr Paul Carter voiced misgivings over his
party’s free schools policy.
As might have been predicted, party
chiefs have turned their ire on the BBC’s Today
programme, where the story arose this morning, saying that it has
tried to expose a rift where there is none.
It’s certainly unfortunate for the
Conservatives, regardless of whether there has been any
misconstruction or misunderstanding on the part of the BBC.
You can listen to the Today interview
with Michael Gove and Paul Carter here
(I tend to think that politicians are
on generally weak ground when they start to blame the media. I
suppose I would say that).
In one sense, it can be argued that
Cllr Carter has simply re-iterated his earlier misgivings about the
potential impact the party’s policy of free schools might have on
local education authorities which the Conservatives have not
properly addressed.
Which is an entirely different thing
to saying that he opposes the whole idea.
The problem is that whatever his
feelings might be – and the concerns are entirely legitimate – it
was probably not the best thing to ventilate them in the middle of
a general election campaign.
Especially where one of the key issues
is which party will hit public services worse – and no surprise
that Labour’s Ed Balls has gleefully seized on the
comments, saying Cllr Carter has "let the cat out of the bag".
I did enjoy John Humphries quip to
Michael Gove, the Conservatives education spokesman, that "with
friends like that, you do not need enemies."
For his part, Mr Gove told Mr
Humphries that he had spoken to Cllr Carter on the phone this
morning and that "he 100 per cent supports our policy".
I would have liked to have
eavesdropped on that chat.
KCC Tory chief
on how free schools might affect councils>>>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here's Gwyn Prosser, the Labour
parliamentary candidate, on the row: "I agree with Pau!". Groans
all round. I wonder if I'll get any more like that throughout the
day...?
Monday, April 26 2010
The KM Group does not moderate comments.
Please click here for our house rules.