THE decision by Shadow Health Secretary, Harriet Harman, to send her younger son to a grammar school has thrown Labour into chaos in one of the key policy battles of the next election.

Like Tony Blair, Ms Harman has already been criticised for allowing her elder boy to attend the grant-maintained London Oratory School.

Labour now grudgingly accepts that such schools have a place in our system, but its position on grammar schools could not be made more clear than by the words of education spokesman David Blunkett: "No selection, either by examination or interview, under a Labour government."

It is true that Ms Harman faces a distressing parental dilemma: one of her neighbouring comprehensive schools has a GCSE grade A-C pass-rate of just six per cent, another 11 per cent. Both are unacceptable. So instead of seeking alternatives outside Labour policy, we believe Ms Harman should give her total support to another of her party's education pledges: to "sweep away the second-rate . . . and root out under-achievement in our schools".

As matters stand, one thing must go: Ms Harman from the shadow cabinet, or the no-selection commitment from Labour's education policy.

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