Join the Brady Bunch

Why has the Tory grammar- school row raged for so long? It is glib to suggest, as some have, that it is simply filling a news vacuum as the political world awaits the ascension of Prime Minister Brown and averts its gaze from the slow car crash of the Labour deputy leadership contest. The truth is that Mr Brown and the six contenders to succeed John Prescott cannot believe their luck. Just when Labour was expecting embarrassing scrutiny of Mr Brown’s coronation and the Wacky Races of the battle for the deputy’s job, the Conservatives have contrived to mount an unexpectedly protracted bout of ‘Tory turmoil’: the first since David Cameron became leader in December 2005.

The depth of interest in the Tories’ schools policy is in one sense a tribute to how far Mr Cameron has brought the Conservatives: now that it is a serious contender for power, what the party says on education (and everything else) is potentially of the greatest importance.