Before the militant teaching unions ramped up their campaign, the Labour Party was in favour of speedily re-opening schools. Back on 15 April, TES reported Starmer arguing that reopening of schools should be “prioritise[d]” in order to combat a “growing inequality”.

By 29 April, Huffington Post was reporting Starmer “has ramped up the pressure on ministers to reopen schools as soon as possible”, saying in earnest that “the longer they remain closed the more damage will be done to poorer pupils’ life chances.” Yet now, under pressure from the teaching unions, Starmer’s position appears to have changed…

Since the unions called Starmer to heel on the issue however, Labour has reversed. The Shadow Cabinet has dropped the principled stand it took last month prioritising the needs of children currently missing out on their education, only to now instead refuse to back the Government’s plan to re-open schools. Slippery Starmer has a lawyer’s flexibility when it comes to making his arguments…