Schools for scandal
From Anne Everest-Phillips
Sir: I was most interested to read Andy McSmith’s rather naive column, in which he asked ‘Why do my Labour friends send their children to private school?’ (Politics, 10 December). Mr McSmith, it was ever thus.
In the 1970s, as a teacher at an excellent private junior school in north London, I was amazed to find I was teaching daughters of Labour Members of Parliament. I worked hard to help pupils gain places at top independent secondary schools. I remember with some affection a delightfully hardworking child whose self-esteem had received a great boost by gaining admission to the school of her choice. A few days after the results had been received, she informed me sadly that ‘Daddy has been offered a post in the Cabinet by Mr Wilson, so he says I must turn down the place.’ The irony was that I was given to understand that Harold Wilson’s own sons were at an independent school. Plus Va change!
Anne Everest-Phillips Sidmouth, Devon
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