Graham Brady's resignation letter

"Dear David, It is with sincere regret that I've decided to step down from the Opposition frontbench.

It has been a privilege to work as Shadow Europe Minister both under you and under Michael Howard. I particularly regret that I will not be in post to fight the coming battle over the EU constitution. I remain firmly committed to your policy of returning social and employment law to British control and to your trenchant opposition to the transfer of further powers to the EU, and I wish you every success in achieving those goals in government.

In recent weeks however, it has been increasingly difficult for me to reconcile my duties as a constituency member of Parliament with the collective responsibility that is required of members of the frontbench. As you know my Altrincham and Sale West constituency has four excellent grammar schools and four equally outstanding high schools. We are a part of the borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester which has a thriving, modern selective system of education - a system that consistently puts the local education authority at the very top of national league tables, even though we are socially and ethnically a very diverse area.

For nearly all of my life I have campaigned to support Trafford schools, indeed it was because the Conservative Party was such a staunch defender of Trafford schools that I first joined the party and campaigned for it. This is something that I have continued to do in Parliament over the past 10 years.

Although you made it clear when you became leader that you were not planning to introduce more grammar schools, unfortunately, David Willetts' argument that grammar schools impede social mobility has gone much further and undermines the schools in my constituency which continue to achieve excellent results for children of all abilities and from all social backgrounds. One grammar school head wrote to me saying: 'His statement must be music to the ears of anti-grammar school campaigners. I can imagine them dusting off their grammar school ballot literature of a few years ago as I speak!'

Like all Members of Parliament who have grammar schools in their constituencies, I must now help to provide the evidence that those schools need to defend themselves. That is why I have felt duty bound to continue my practice of obtaining and publishing facts which demonstrate that selective local education authorities perform better than comprehensive ones.

If I did not put this evidence in the public domain, I would be failing the excellent schools in my constituency. Furthermore at a time when both major parties have adopted very similar education policies, the quality of public debate would be diminished if no one in the House of Commons were able to bring forward evidence that may lead to better educational outcomes for the nation's children.

I hope that you will understand how difficult this decision has been for me and how much I regret any embarrassment that may have been caused to you and the Conservative Party. Faced with a choice of a frontbench position that I have loved and doing what I believe to be right for my constituents and for the many hundreds of thousands of families who are ill served by state education in this country, there is in conscience only one decision open to me.

I will continue to serve the interests of the Conservative cause in Greater Manchester and nationally to the best of my ability.

I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve in an important and exciting frontbench position for the last 18 months.

Yours ever, Graham."

Related link: David Cameron's letter to Graham Brady

Comments

[Henry Mayhew]

'nuf said.

I'm now looking forward to the next constituency or colleague whose mental health Dave will question for disagreeing with his insta-policies.

Finally, I prefer the style of the grammar school kid's letter to the Etonian.

Gawd 'elp us all.

[Chelloveck]

What a well-crafted missive. Dave's letter had mixed tenses and all kinds of grammatical errors.

Go the grammar school boys! Kick the toff arses. No wonder they don't want to give more bright kids the opportunity to leap-frog the dim but well-taught private schoolers...

[Richard Carey]

I'm now looking forward to the next constituency or colleague whose mental health Dave will question for disagreeing with his insta-policies.

That's rather than you doing something constructive with us, I suppose. Mind you, if you're the same UKIP-supporting Henry Mayhew I found on a quick web search (apologies if you're not the same person, the understandable decision to withold email addresses on this site makes it harder to verify identities) then I'm not surprised (or worried)in the slightest!

[Henry Mayhew]

Hi Richard,

I am the same and I am doing something constructive - with Graham Brady and the conservatives.

How is being a Cameroon constructive? In what way does it have meaning?

[Perdix]

Well said Richard Carey. There are far too many ukippers and malcontents just trying to make trouble on this site, hurling insults instead of trying to reason with others. I've just read Willetts's speech again and must agree with most of it. However, some parts of the speech may well be grist to those in Labour who wish to damage Grammars which may now need active defence. DW having continued the proposals for no new Grammars, was the data regarding FSM put out merely to justify that decision?

[Mark Wadsworth]

God bless Graham Brady and all who sail in him!

UKIP's first MP?

[Torygirl]

A man who stands by his principles, rare in today's modern politics. Well done Graham.

[Richard Tyndall]

On the contrary Perdix,

what there are too many of is Cameroons doing them damndest to ruin what was once a great party. Lacking anything in the way of principles or beliefs beyond the basic idea that they should be in power they have hijacked a party and are setting about dismantling it for their own ends.

The comments you see from the anti-cameron contributors to these discussions are far more representative of the true Conservative party and of the country as a whole.

If you agree with Willets and Cameron then it is you who are trying to make trouble for both the party and the country.

[William MacDougall]

Well done Graham Brady. Shame on David Cameron.

[Cynical Voter]

There is a refrain that the Conservatives lost the 2005 Election by being in policies rejected by voters. So let's see what Education policies were in the Conservative Manifesto and rejected as too right-wing so the mistake is not repeated...........

Last year a third of children left primary school unable to write properly and more than 40,000 teenagers left school without a single GCSE.

Examinations have been devalued so that it is possible to secure a ‘C’ Grade at GCSE maths with just 16 per cent.

A Conservative Government will put the right values at the heart of our education system. We will ensure proper discipline in schools by giving heads and governors full control over admissions and expulsions.

We will not allow a minority to ruin the education of the majority. Instead of disrupting the education of others, difficult pupils will be given the chance to get their lives back on track in special Turnaround Schools.

The respect due to teachers will be enhanced by protecting them against malicious allegations of abuse and, most importantly, reducing the massive burden of paperwork.

Schools will be liberated to set their own priorities and budgets. The current proliferation of funding streams will be replaced by a simple system, with funds allocated on the basis of pupil numbers. Money will follow the pupil. Head teachers will then have the freedom to spend money in accordance with their school’s own needs, without interference from Whitehall.

The examination system will be made more transparent and accountable. The targets which encourage examiners to award higher and higher grades for the same level of performance will be scrapped. Marks will be published alongside grades. And schools will be free to offer internationally-recognised qualifications alongside GCSEs and A-Level.

We will slim down and improve the National Curriculum, root out political correctness, restore rigour and give teachers the scope once again to be creative and imaginative.

Many children leave school at 16 because they are bored and because vocational education does not have the status that it deserves. We will end the snobbery that has damaged vocational education.

New grants will be made available to help pupils who wish to combine GCSEs with vocational study at a wide range of colleges, businesses and other enterprises. We will introduce 300,000 vocational grants of £1,000 each for 14-16 year olds.

Education should be about more than academic learning. Under Labour, sport has been squeezed out of the curriculum and child obesity has risen alarmingly.

Our schools should be places where children also learn other skills for life, such as healthy living, being part of a team and respecting others. We will give every child the right to two hours of after-school sport with our Club2School programme, at no cost to parents.

We support improvements to school dinners, and will go further by banning junk food in schools.

Children need to be taught how to deal with risks in life. We will encourage learning outside the classroom and provide protection for teachers worried about school trips.

Parents know their children best and are increasingly frustrated at not being able to exercise more choice and control over their children’s education.

We will give parents the right to choose the school best suited to their child’s needs, and our school expansion fund will provide an additional 600,000 places in our first term. This will ensure that in our first five years 100,000 more parents get their first choice of school.

Schools will have responsibility for admissions, good schools will be allowed to grow and support will be given to new schools set up to respond to parental demand.

Parents will also be able to send their children free of charge to any independent school that offers a place at no more than the cost of a state-funded school.

We will pay particular attention to children with special needs.

Under Labour, the dogmatic pursuit of inclusion has led to the closure of special schools and children have suffered as a result. A Conservative Government will introduce a moratorium on the closure of special schools and give parents proper information and choice so they can secure the best opportunities for their children.

Labour have ignored the further education sector. We will simplify funding, replace the bureaucratic Learning and Skills Councils, ensure that money follows the student and allow colleges to apply for “Super college” status with greater freedom to manage budgets, specialise and innovate.

We will restore real choice in higher education by scrapping fees and abolishing Labour’s admissions regulator.

University funding will depend on attracting new students and so excellence will be encouraged. We will also help universities move towards greater financial independence by building up their individual endowments.

[Deputy Editor]

Thanks Cynical, that's interesting.

[richard]

School DINNERS? I would have thought Dave's lot would have said School LUNCHEONS. And, of course, no soup on the menu, because as Lord Curzon said 'No gentleman eats soup at luncheon.'

[Adam Tugwell]

Cynical Voter - don't you think it more liklely it was rejected for being too damned long?

Someone quite rightly blogged on a previous issue that simplicity of communication is a necessity - this is absolutely right.

However, isn't it about time people stopped bitching about right wing policies - the Conservatives are a 'right wing' Party afterall. Just because Labour have managed to dupe the public up to and during three GE campaigns, it doesn't mean that they are doing a good job.

Brady should be applauded for actually doing what many people think MP's should be doing - namely considering his electorate above his own position.

WELL DONE GRAHAM!!!

[Denis Cooper]

I keep hearing about the Tories suffering three general election defeats because of this policy or that policy ... but in 2005 Labour's majority was slashed, and if only something like 20,000 people in 30 odd constituencies had voted for the Tory candidate instead of the Labour candidate then Blair wouldn't have had a majority at all. I don't have the time to add up the exact total but the list is here:

http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge05/labmaj.htm

and the numbers needed to wipe out the Labour majority in the Commons ranged from just 19 voting Tory instead of Labour in Crawley, to around 1000 for the 40th constituency in the list.

No party could inflict the kind of economic hardship that the Tory party caused by taking sterling into the ERM, and expect to be forgiven within a few years - unless the other party caused comparable or worse economic havoc.

Even if every policy in the Conservative manifestos had been perfectly attuned to public opinion and communicated with outstanding clarity and effectiveness, it's certain that Labour would still have won in 1997 and 2001, and quite likely that they would have won in 2005 as well.

In themselves those three defeats actually say nothing about the popularity of one policy or another which was or was not in the manifestos on each occasion, but a lot about the persistent unpopularity of a party which made bad decisions on economic policy when it was last in office, starting nearly twenty years ago, and consequently hurt so many voters so badly.

[simon]

A sensible and cogent resignation letter from Mr Brady. I wonder whether we will get sensible and cogent policies from the 'ok yah' brigade. I seriously doubt it. From what i can gather Cambo's 'inner circle' seem intent on inflicting 'Wright Stuff' lite policies on the country! Oh Dear!

[Cynical Voter]

Cynical Voter - don't you think it more liklely it was rejected for being too damned long?

No. I don't think it was rejected. I don't think it was too right-wing . I just think it was too secret and I was in a marginal seat

[Adam Tugwell]

Denis, your thoughts on Tories and the ERM sound like what UKIP are to Europe.

Let's be fair about this, Labour have been more than capable of dropping themselves in it in the past and the electorate have moved on. I somehow fail to see that voters at the ballet box in May 2005 were thinking to themselves 'oh what total scumbags the Tory Government was in the early nineties because they took Sterling into the ERM.'

In fact I would bet that for many, the location of the 'cross in the box', wasn't so much about a conscious decision to vote for Blair, so much as about sleepwalking the 'life feels good at the moment tightrope'.

Start effectively communicating WHY IT COULD BE BETTER and you will see the results matey!

[Denis Cooper]

But why should voters in 2005 have thought "Life feels good at the moment"?

Because they remembered, or had read about, or had heard from family or friends about, a time when life did not feel as good - so why trust the shower who'd been responsible for that, whatever the precise causes of the economic failure?

It takes a long time for a party to live down the kind of punishment which was inflicted on the population by the last Tory government, and I'm sure that even
as late as the 2005 election many people were still thinking that they didn't want ro risk another dose of that. Far more than those who were thinking "I don't like the Tory policy on grammar schools" - whatever that was at that time.

[Denis Cooper]

But why should voters in 2005 have thought "Life feels good at the moment"?

Because they remembered, or had read about, or had heard from family or friends about, a time when life did not feel as good - so why trust the shower who'd been responsible for that, whatever the precise causes of the economic failure?

It takes a long time for a party to live down the kind of punishment which was inflicted on the population by the last Tory government, and I'm sure that even
as late as the 2005 election many people were still thinking that they didn't want ro risk another dose of that. Far more than those who were thinking "I don't like the Tory policy on grammar schools" - whatever that was at that time.

[Adam Tugwell]

The good thing of course is that with mushroom mentality, the fertilizer eventually rins out of steam...

[Chris McLaughlin]

I have watched the Grammar debate develop and questioned whether Cameron was actually a Tory.

Reluctantly I have concluded that it doesn't matter because neither is UK plc.

Our schools are a shambles and are collapsing through a failure to challege the Left's hegemony on their running.

Finding a Hayek literate, libertarian in our State system is like seeking the proverbial needle in the haystack. The Left has stolen our schools and stolen three generations of progress from Britain. It doesn't matter what worked for me in the '60s - its what will work now. That is where the Grammar idea collapses.

Willetts had it half right when he was offering limited schools vouchers. Education needs releasing from government.

The state has failed with education. Its time to let the market prevail.

[Chris McLaughlin]

I have watched the Grammar debate develop and questioned whether Cameron was actually a Tory.

Reluctantly I have concluded that it doesn't matter because neither is UK plc.

Our schools are a shambles and are collapsing through a failure to challege the Left's hegemony on their running.

Finding a Hayek literate, libertarian in our State system is like seeking the proverbial needle in the haystack. The Left has stolen our schools and stolen three generations of progress from Britain. It doesn't matter what worked for me in the '60s - its what will work now. That is where the Grammar idea collapses.

Willetts had it half right when he was offering limited schools vouchers. Education needs releasing from government.

The state has failed with education. Its time to let the market prevail.