Shami brags about going to a comp ... but her son’s school costs £20k a year!
IT was an impassioned defence of comprehensive education by senior Labour figure Shami Chakrabarti.
But there was just one thing the state-educated baroness had forgotten to mention ... the fact that her own son attends a £20,000-ayear private school.
The shadow attorney general was responding to a suggestion on BBC’s Question Time, in which an audience member said there should be an increase in grammar schools in response to parent demand for places.
Baroness Chakrabarti then waxed lyrical about the brilliance of comprehensive education, and suggested all children should go to non-selective schools. But at no point did she admit that she sends her own son to exclusive Dulwich College.
The historic school, in south London, not only charges fees beyond the dreams of most parents, but also has a tough selection test.
Last night many online commentators branded her a ‘hypocrite’. Actress and Labour activist Frances Barber said: ‘Shami Chakrabarti says she went to a comprehensive and is now in ermine and on Question Time. So why does she send her kid to a private school?’
The Conservative Party had a policy of expanding grammars which was bitterly opposed by the Labour Party during last year’s general election. Although the Tories’ poor performance in the election has meant grammar support has been scaled back, the Government recently announced an extra £50million funding for selective schools that admit more working-class pupils.
On Thursday’s Question Time, broadcast from Reading, Berkshire, the baroness boasted of having gone to a comprehensive – Bentley Wood High School for girls in affluent Harrow, north London.
‘I went to comprehensive school and I’m now the shadow attorney general and I’m on Question Time – and it was one of the best left chances I ever had, one of the best things that ever happened to me socially and in terms of my academic learning,’ she said. ‘So how about having grammar schools for all children – otherwise known as comprehensive schools?’
Last night Chris mcGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘The whole argument against grammar schools is studded with hypocrisy.
‘Not just Baroness Chakrabarti – [shadow home secretary] Diane Abbott sent her son to private schools, and [Labour leader] Jeremy Corbyn separated from his wife when she sent theirs to a grammar.’
Last night Labour and Baroness Chakrabarti failed to respond to requests for comment.
‘Studded with hypocrisy’