Badenoch schools Phillipson

Badenoch touches a nerve in the Commons

Telegraph Front Bencher 25/06/26

It’s hard to know where to begin with Bridget Phillipson’s response to Kemi Badenoch’s PMQs barb. The Leader of the Opposition described the Education Secretary as a “spiteful class warrior”, prompting outcry from the perpetually-outraged Left and an intervention from the Speaker. How else to describe a minister who imposed VAT on private school fees midway through the academic year, guaranteeing maximum disruption to pupils, leaving schools little time to adapt, and almost certainly raising less in net revenue than anticipated?

Perhaps Badenoch touched a nerve. Since Labour took office, over 100 independent schools have closed. Universities are on the brink of a funding crisis, while nurseries are grappling with the reality of an expanded “free” childcare offer rolled out with little consideration for how it would be paid. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act is stripping academies of their freedoms and discouraging the creation of new free schools. Phillipson has claimed the Government is recruiting more teachers yet the total number fell by nearly 2,000 year on year. She has complained that criticism of this abysmal performance is rooted in sexism.

The Education Secretary now appears determined to turn the row into a cause célèbre. She is so appalled by the remarks that she told Nick Robinson earlier that she intends to have them printed on a T-shirt. Moments before PMQs she branded Tory MP Nick Timothy a “racist”, only reinforcing the impression she is quick to dish out the moral judgments but unwilling to accept criticism in return.

Bridget Phillipson joked she would get ‘spiteful class warrior’ printed on a T-shirt

None of this should trouble the Conservatives. If anything, the dispute has handed Badenoch the political oxygen her party has been craving – and she will want to capitalise on it, particularly after the Makerfield and Aberdeen South results. As one senior Tory figure put it: Phillipson may not grasp just how much this little contretemps is playing into their hands.

A hypothetical (for now) poll yesterday put the Tories just 3 points behind Reform with Burnham as PM. Andy Burnham also beats Nigel Farage by a wider margin than Badenoch. It looks like there is everything to play for as the political winds change almost from day to day.

Having spent months relentlessly probing Starmer’s failures, Conservatives are now alert to the possibility they will, in Burnham, face a more formidable opponent. It would be hard not to. As the prospect of a prolonged period of Left-wing government comes into focus in voters’ minds, pressure is mounting on each party on the Right to prove it is the dominant force capable of preventing such a horrorshow.

Education is awkward territory for Labour. Although achievements in other policy areas may have been sparse to non-existent, England’s school system improved substantially during the 14 years of Conservative rule, thanks in large part to Nick Gibb’s reading reforms. Between 2000 and 2009, the UK fell from seventh to 25th in reading and from eighth to 28th in maths in global league tables. Much of that decline was reversed after 2010.

Phillipson’s indignation risks achieving the opposite of what she intends. By escalating the row, she has invited closer examination of a record that Labour, if it has any sense, should prefer not to discuss just now. If she is hoping this spat will make it harder for Burnham to sack her from the Cabinet – the two are aligned but not close allies – it could backfire.

Nor is it obvious why the Speaker felt compelled to police Badenoch’s language while allowing displays of partisan barracking to pass with little comment. There was no similar concern when Farage was booed in the chamber, and it took him too long to begin insisting Starmer actually answer a question at Prime Minister’s Questions.