Labour’s education policy has been a mess since 2010, not least because of union puppets like Lisa Nandy constantly undermining Stephen Twigg. In the clearest signal yet of what the old Shadow Education Secretary really thought about academies and free schools, we must look to the career of his spinner Alex Bigham.

Instead of sticking around to work for Tristram Hunt for another eighteen months of writing dreary press releases about the perils of free schools, Blairite Bigham is off to education charity ARK Schools. And what do they do? 

Only help to set up and run free schools across the country, of course. They even proudly display a glowing testimonial from Bigham’s old enemy Michael Gove on their website. Another one sees the light…