MP in city academy dilemma
Press Association Friday December 29, 2006 5:53 AM
A former Labour minister has withdrawn her son from a so-called flagship city academy in protest at its "appalling" standards, reports said.
Karen Buck said she had been "torn apart" by a "personal dilemma" over withdrawing her 13-year-old son Kosmo from Paddington City Academy in London, but denied hypocrisy.
She is the first Labour MP to take a child out of a city academy and her decision is a blow for Tony Blair's flagship city academies project.
Ms Buck said: "I don't have an ideological objection to city academies. There is not a moral issue here. I am not asking for special treatment. My personal dilemma is I am trying to fight for the Paddington Academy which has a challenging intake.
"They are the same kids my son went to primary school with. I haven't been able to raise it in Parliament because I am absolutely ripped apart by the suggestion that there is a conflict of interest, which there is not."
She is seeking a place for her son in another non-selective state secondary school.
Ms Buck resigned as aviation minister in February and recently protested about the "appalling" standards of accommodation and teaching facilities at Paddington City Academy.
She is not the first Labour MP to face criticism over the choice of a school.
Others include Harriet Harman for allowing her child to go to a grammar school, Diane Abbott for choosing a private school for her son, and Mr Blair and his wife Cherie for sending their children to the London Oratory, a Roman Catholic state school criticised by left-wingers for the perceived elitism of its selection procedures.
The problems at Paddington City Academy were investigated in a recent BBC Newsnight documentary.
© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2006, All Rights Reserved
Friday, December 29, 2006
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