TONY BLAIR faced renewed embarrassment over his choice of a grant-maintained school for his children last night after their headmaster asked parents for a voluntary contribution of #30 to compensate for Government funding cuts, writes Benedict Brogan.
The Tories seized on the revelation that the London Oratory School had appealed for donations, claiming Mr Blair was being made to pay for the ''mismanagement of education he is inflicting on parents nationwide''.
In a letter sent to the parents of all 1340 pupils - including the Blairs - headmaster John McIntosh said the school was facing the deficit as a result of the Government's decision to abolish the special funding arrangements set up by the Tories for grant-maintained schools.
He invited them to contribute #30 a month for a first child, and an extra #15 for a second child. It would mean the Blairs, with two children enrolled, would have to pay #540 a year to the Roman Catholic state school.
As Ministers struggled to explain away the fund-raising initiative, Conservative leader William Hague said the request for cash was being made by schools across England. ''The Government believes that by destroying the best you can improve the average. It's wrong.''
The school claimed it faced a #250,000 deficit as a result of losing its grant-maintained status which would place its achievements ''in jeopardy''.
In a joint letter with Father Ignatius Harrison, the chairman of governors, Mr McIntosh said: ''Under the School Framework and Standards Act 1998, the grant-maintained status which the school enjoyed for 10 years was abolished, and on September 1, 1999, the school became a voluntary aided school. This change of status, together with a new funding regime, has, among many other things, resulted in a very significant reduction in funding for the school.''
The Blairs' decision to send their sons Euan, 15, and Nicky, 13, to the comprehensive, one of the first schools to opt out of local authority control under the Conservatives, outraged Labour traditionalists before the election.
Last night the school and Mr McIntosh were under fire for the appeal and for what Labour suspects was a deliberate leak of the decision to Tory-friendly papers.
Mr David Williams, deputy chair of education for Hammersmith and Fulham, said he had not been informed and that the school could have turned to the local council for help. ''It's an offer of assistance from our authority. State education should be free - that's the principle of it.''
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