Machinery of Government

Labour's municipal and industrial machines in the North and the Midlands may be shadows of their former selves, but the Conservative Party's are as mighty as ever. Michael Gove's doolally scheme to allow any and everyone to set up a school, and that at public expense, is being fought tooth and nail by Conservative-controlled councils from the East Riding of Yorkshire to Birmingham, where the Council Cabinet member for education cohabits with the General Secretary of the NASUWT.