Eric Sukumaran

The scrapping of an Eton-backed free sixth form in Middlesbrough tells us more about Labour than any manifesto ever could. A project designed to educate the brightest children from one of the poorest parts of the country was not stopped because it failed, cost too much, or lacked need. It was stopped because it threatened to succeed. And success, when it cannot be controlled, is intolerable to this government. This was not a fee-paying outpost or a vanity scheme. It was a free school, approved under the last government, partnered with a proven academy trust, aimed squarely at deprived pupils with high academic ability. The offer was simple: take children who show promise and give them an education equal to the best in the country. That should have been uncontroversial. Instead it triggered hostility, suspicion, and finally cancellation. Not because of what it would have done, but because of what it symbolised. The real offence was a four-letter word: Eton College. That name short-circuited reason. Local Labour figures spoke of "elitism" while opposing a free school for poor children. Ministers talked about surplus places and SEND funding while quietly abandoning a project already designed to address a regional attainment gap that everyone admits exists. None of it holds up. The explanations came after the decision, not before it. Look at the facts Labour prefers not to dwell on. The North East lags badly behind London on A-level results and university entry. That gap has widened, not narrowed. This school was explicitly designed to deal with the A-level drop-off that has trapped bright pupils in the region for years. Its location was central, its funding secure, its academic model tested. Scrapping it did nothing to help SEND pupils and nothing to raise standards elsewhere. It simply removed an option that would have worked. What happened in Middlesbrough fits a pattern we have already seen. When schools succeed by insisting on discipline, knowledge, and high expectations, the response from Labour is not curiosity but suspicion. Not imitation but obstruction. Katharine Birbalsingh and Michaela showed what happens when deprived children are taken seriously. Instead of being celebrated, that success is treated as a problem to be managed. The lesson is the same here: excellence outside the approved model must be neutralised. The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, claims the money could be better spent elsewhere. That argument collapses on contact with reality. Identical Eton-Star colleges have been approved in other Labour-run areas. The money exists. The model is acceptable. What differed in Middlesbrough was not need, but politics. Local ideological resistance was indulged, and bright children paid the price. This is the quiet cruelty of modern Labour education policy. It speaks endlessly about disadvantage while dismantling the very ladders that allow people to climb out of it. It treats aspiration as a threat and excellence as exclusion. It would rather keep everyone inside a failing system than allow some to rise beyond it, because rising exposes the lie that background is destiny. We are told this is about fairness. It is not. Fairness would mean expanding opportunity wherever it appears. What Labour practices instead is levelling by denial. If not everyone can have something, no one should. If a school might allow working-class children to outperform expectations, it must be stopped in case it embarrasses the system. Middlesbrough did not lose a school. It lost permission to excel. A message was sent to its brightest children: know your place. That is not compassion. It is control. And until Labour grasps the difference, it will keep dressing envy up as justice and calling restraint care. Ministers will feel nothing. Children will pay the price. "Bridget Phillipson, claims the money could be better spent elsewhere. That argument collapses on contact with reality."

Daming statements from Zahawi's former Stratford on Avon colleagues tell the full story. Nobody wanted him back because no-one liked him and his tax fiddling reputation was seriously damaging. As his former constituency neighbour it was obvious he never worked or even visited his constituency. As ever this defection is all about him. He realised he had no route back as a Conservative MP or a Peer. Our party under new leadership values hard work, honesty and most of all Conservative values. He doesn't embody a single one. Statements below: Nadhim Zahawi’s decision to join Reform UK is self serving and a kick in the teeth for loyal local Conservative party members who supported his re-selection in 2023 when every single member of the then Conservative cabinet at Stratford District Council wanted him to step down”. Says Cllr Daren Pemberton, leader of the Conservative group on Stratford District Council. Daren went on “He has clearly been on a journey that has taken him both physically and politically away from the values and focus of Stratford Conservatives, which are to make peoples lives better through opportunity and aspiration, individual freedom and responsibility, sound finances, and delivering world class local services that meet residents needs” Nadhim Zahawi’s political influence and relevance is long behind him and from here on Reform UK in Stratford District will be personified by Nadhim Zahawi which will make it absolutely clear to local voters what they will get with Reform UK….self, self, self. and, the Chairman's: South Warwickshire Conservative Association regrets the decision of the former Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon to leave the Conservative Party. Political parties are built on shared values, commitment and service, and we are disappointed to see that he can no longer feels that he can support Conservative party values. We are also surprised by the timing of his decision when confidence and support for the Conservative’s message and leadership is growing again; both nationally and locally in Stratford District. Under new leadership, the Conservative Party is once again setting out an authentically Conservative direction: focused on responsibility, opportunity, sound management of public finances, and genuine service to local residents and the nation as a whole. We remain confident that our renewed sense of purpose will continue to resonate with voters in the Stratford-on-Avon constituency and across the country.

Today’s Budget was a total humiliation for Rachel Reeves. She will go down as the worst Chancellor this country has ever had. Her position is now untenable and she knows it👇