In a candid interview with Amanda Patell for the Daily Mail the Conservative Party leader David Cameron admitted that he had made mistakes on his handling of the grammar school issue. It is convenient that his mea culpa came to public attention 24 hours before parents go out to vote since the detail on how Mr Cameron intends to repair his errors was not made clear. So Amanda Patell started her interview by asking David Cameron directly why should Conservatives like her and millions of readers place their cross against the Conservative party on the ballot paper today?’
“The answers come thick and fast. He starts by outlining his belief in educational reform, so that children in this country can have a fair chance to ‘go from the bottom to the top’.
Why, then, I challenge him, has he been so dismissive about grammar schools, which were once the most effective way for a bright child from a poor background to rise to the very top?
Cameron is unexpectedly contrite. ‘I will accept that I got it wrong in the row on grammar schools. They are excellent schools, all 164 of them, and under the Conservative Party they will prosper and flourish.
‘I do accept that in the language I used I didn’t show enough sensitivity to people who’d been to grammar schools, who liked grammar schools, who thought they were great agents of social mobility.
‘I was trying to make sure we got on to the next target, which is: how do we have good schools right across the country”
To read more on Cameron’s interview with Amanda Patell visit : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1272513/GENERAL-ELECTION-2010-How-David-Cameron-finally-won-over.html#ixzz0n7uo5GfK