Stu, the person who destroyed the education system in England - Tony Crosland:

"If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every fucking grammar school in England. And Wales. And Northern Ireland."

In stating that intent he would rob hundreds of thousands of an excellent avenue for upward mobility. Doubt that? Then look at the number of Labour MPs who had had just such an education yet who wished to see it denied others. Scrapping Grammar Schools and reducing to the lowest common denominator does not benefit the country. Talent, intelligence and ability MUST be encouraged, nurtured and fed - you do not do that by slowing the learning process down to the speed at which the less capable feel comfortable.

Tony Crosland on Private education at the time he wanted to "destroy every fucking grammar school in England. And Wales. And Northern Ireland.":

"I am sure that a definite limit exists to the degree of equality which is desirable. We do not want complete equality of incomes, since extra responsibility and exceptional talent require and deserve a differential reward. We are not hostile, as our opponents sometimes foolishly suggest, to 'detached residences in Bournemouth where some elderly woman has obviously more than a thousand a year'. I do not myself want to see all private education disappear; nor the Prime Minister denied an official car, as in one Scandinavian country; nor the Queen riding a bicycle; nor the House of Lords instantly abolished; nor the manufacture of Rolls-Royces banned; nor the Brigade of Guards, nor Oxford and Cambridge, nor Boodle's nor (more doubtfully) the Royal Yacht Squadron, nor even, on a rather lower level, the Milroy Room, lose their present distinctive character; nor anything so dull and colourless as this."

Charles Anthony Raven Crosland educated at one of the "poshest" Grammar Schools in the country and at Trinity College, Oxford (Two whacks at that, first time he read Classics and the second stint after the war reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Became an Oxford Don before entering politics.