SIR: Being a lifelong member of the Labour Party, and now in my 75th year, I was taught as a child I could not have my cake and eat it.

But, alas, Harriet Harman, Member of the Shadow Cabinet, has proved the exception to the rule.

She has been pontificating on the Front Bench of the Labour Party about the advantages of sending a child to a comprehensive school, which I personally agree with.

But when she herself is put to the test, oh dear, it is a different ball game. Her child must attend the school of her choice. That, she is entirely free to do. She is the child's mother who, to her way of thinking, is doing the best for her child, which I am sure is what every mother worth her salt aspires to do. Where Harriet Harman sends her child to school is entirely her prerogative; that, I have no objection to whatsoever. What I find galling is that she sits on the Opposition Front Bench pontificating the rules laid down by the Party she represents, but changes the rules when they don't suit her.

Let Harriet Harman have the moral fibre to withdraw from the Shadow Cabinet and retire to the Back Benches where she belongs. I find myself agreeing with Gillian Shepherd of the Tory Party when she refers to Harriet Harman as a hypocrite, preaching one thing and doing the opposite when it suits her purpose.

Mrs Catherine Gaskell

David Brow, Bolton

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