Dour moods in the schoolyard this morning as Bridget Phillipson claims that Labour’s levying of VAT on private schools will force them to make cutbacks along with everyone else. A strange thing for the party of aspiration to say…

“I think private schools could really be looking to make some economies, everyone’s had to cut back in recent times and I don’t think private schools can be immune from some of that”. 

Meanwhile Phillipson claims that the policy will raise £1.5 billion for investment in the state sector. Ignoring that the government will end up having to shell out £400 million a year to pay for all the newly enrolled state school kids resulting from parents no longer being able to afford private education…

Keir Starmer’s 20% VAT on private schools is against EU law that’s still part of UK legislation. A 2006 European Council directive on the tax specifically exempts “the provision of children’s or young people’s education, school or university education” and related goods and services. A Starmer government would it seems have to remove the provision from UK law. So much for not “diverging“…

At PMQs last Wednesday, Sir Keir went on the attack over Rishi Sunak’s Winchester education:

“Mr Speaker, Winchester College has a rowing club, a rifle club, an extensive arts collection”

Guido’s already pointed out the hypocrisy of Labour’s anti-private school campaign given Starmer’s own posh, home counties, private education. Questions still remain about who paid for his years at the school after it switched from grammar to independent…

Looking at the specifics of Starmer’s attacks on Rishi’s alma matter, however, the hypocrisy becomes even more heightened. Guido’s managed to pin down the details of Sir Keir’s school’s own rifle range, which was up and running during his time there, in the library attic.

Earlier this year a Facebook group for Reigate Grammar School (RGS) alumni saw fellow ex-pupils wistfully reminiscing about the shooting team:

A recent RGS magazine also revealed that “during some recent renovations in our school, we were lucky enough to uncover a goldmine of memorabilia – panels from the old rifle range, which are covered in names and dates from former pupils.” Guido’s had a look and can’t see Sir Keir’s graffito…

While RGS doesn’t have an art collection, kids from Sir Keir’s college have recently enjoyed school trips to Italy, Greece, Moscow, St Petersburg, Washington, New York, and Belize. Sports and music clubs have also done tours of Jersey, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Dubai and Barbados. He’s rather shot himself in the foot with this latest attack on aspiration…

As Labour continue to lead the fight against the injustice of… good schools operated at no expense to the state, Guido can shed yet more light on their leader’s private school days. A report from the Surrey Mirror in 1974 explained that Surrey Council “agreed to spend £289,000 to protect the futures of all pupils entering the Grammar School up to September 1975”. Sir Keir joined Reigate Grammar in 1974.

Which puts the VAT exemption on school fees which he himself is trying to scrap in the shade; Sir Keir benefitted from a taxpayer-funded private school free-ride. To put Starmer’s schooling costs into context: £289,000 then would be worth £2,500,000 today…

In a new development, a former schoolmate of Starmer got in touch to say that, like Starmer, his fees were paid by Surrey Council, though only up until he finished his O-Levels. His parents had to stump up for his fees when he started his A-levels in the sixth form. This would be consistent with this contemporaneous report from the Surrey Mirror:

By Guido’s calculation Starmer was only in the third form when the school became independent. This raises the question of how after he completed his O-levels in the fifth form, his (VAT free) fees for his sixth form A-level years were funded. In the past when Guido has raised questions about Starmer’s school years the Labour press office has become noticeably evasive. Some clarity on this from Sir Keir is required if he is going to make the status of independent school fees a political issue….

As Labour leads the charge against fee-paying schools, Guido’s attention was drawn to one particularly brash intervention. Labour’s candidate for Hartlepool, Jonathan Brash, claimed on Twitter that private education was not charitable, adding there is “no justification” for tax incentives which “should be abolished”. This intervention may come as a surprise to those who know Jonathan. For not only was he educated at £5,000 per term Yarm School, he now teaches there…

Labour claims to be ready for government, though once again they’re showing an inability to practise what they preach. Fellow Yarm alumnus, Simon Clarke wrote Jonathan this report:

“It shows scarcely believable hypocrisy for Jonathan Brash, who teaches at Yarm School, to attack the very sector in which he is happy to be employed… Labour candidates like Mr Brash deserve A*s for double standards.”

You’d expect a keener sense of political awareness from Jonathan, he used to teach the subject after all…

Given Sir Keir spent most of PMQs trying to hammer the government over tax benefits for private schools – “trickle-down education” is apparently the soundbite of the day – Guido thought it was worth taking a look at those sitting on Starmer’s own frontbench. After all, the parents of 600,000 kids struggling to pay fees might be entitled to think it is some cheek to put VAT on the schools they themselves attended…

• Keir Starmer attended Reigate Grammar School, which, as Guido reported, became a fee-paying independent school whilst he was studying there. When Keir joined in 1974, the school had been a state grammar for 30 years. In 1976, however, it went private – and according to their website of ‘notable Reigatians’ Starmer remained a student there until 1981. Today his old school charges £20,000 a year.
• Party Chair Anneliese Dodds attended Robert Gordon’s College. The independent Aberdeen school currently charges fees of almost £14,000 a year…
• Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey went to Guy Fawkes’ alma mater, St Peter’s School in York. St Peter’s School is an independent school where fees currently cost almost £20,000 a year…
• Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Louise Haigh was a student at Sheffield High School. Fees are currently almost £15,000 a year…·
• Shadow Leader of Commons Thangam Debbonaire went to two independent schools – Bradford Girls’ Grammar School and Chetham’s School of Music. Bradford Girls Grammar School didn’t end its fee-paying status until 2011…

The backbenches are also packed with those more than familiar with private education: John McDonnell skirts over his days at St Joseph’s College. Jeremy Corbyn, the independent Member for Islington North tries to forget he went to a prep school until he was 11. Diane Abbott, Emily Thornberry and Shami Chakrabarti in the Lords all sent their children to independent schools. Still, “trickle-down education” is a nice headline…