Ben Wallace lashes out at the Mirror

It looks like Ben Wallace had sugar on his cornflakes today. The Defence Secretary has gone ‘full tonto’ this morning at the Sunday Mirror over a story in today’s newspaper about the amount of cash his department is spending to send the kids of top army officers to leading public schools. The paper says that last year some £1.5 million was handed over by the Ministry of Defence to schools like Eton, Harrow and Ampleforth, as part of the long-standing Continuity of Education Allowance. This covers 10 per cent of boarding school fees for forces parents so spouses can accompany them on overseas postings. 

But what really seems to have riled Wallace is the insinuation that he has somehow played a part in £668,000 being given by his department to his old school Millfield in Somerset. It takes around £42million a year from rich parents and charges boarders £43,830 a year – something that the Mirror contrasts with nearby state run Crispin Academy which receives taxpayer funding of just £5,682 per pupil.