Ruth Kelly

The recent news about Ruth Kelly and her education choices, splits my view in a numbers of ways, because whilst I’m not quite in the Kelly should go crowd, for breaching a traditional Labour taboo.

I do hold a similar view to fellow Labour blogger Councillor Luke Akehurst who comments that’s he’s unimpressed and that to be honest “it ought to be incompatible with being a Labour MP to pay for private education or private health care.”

This is particularly the case with Ruth Kelly who between December 2004 and May 2006 when she was Secretary of State for Education continued with a series of measures that had the idea of seeing children with learning difficulties taught, as much as possible, in mainstream state schools, causing the closure of a number of special schools.

Her decision has in a sense gave credit to those that say the current system is failing by pulling out of it herself, and leaving the impression that there is one system for most of us, and one for the well off. Added to the fact that the particular school specialises in preparing children with special needs for passing the entrance exams of the ‘top public school’ it just put across the wrong impression and doesn’t (as others have said) give confidence in the system – if they wont use it themselves.

However the above been said, I can also head the comments from various other Labour blogger’s who have commented on this been solely a decision as parent and not a politician, an argument I can acknowledge but not necessarily support.