Another Tory cliché exposed as nonsense, this time by a Tory MP

Tories love to huff and puff about how professionals should be left to manage their affairs without meddlesome bureaucrats poking their noses in. This school of thought, shared by those sad folk who really believe that the old days were the best, suggests that doctors, teachers, lawyers etc. will all act perfectly and always in the nation’s best interest if allowed the freedom just to get on with it.

But, presenting a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee into ‘failing’ schools, its chairman Tory MP Edward Leigh "insisted that the "signs of decline" needed to be picked up early and dealt with swiftly. He voiced concern, too, over the lack of data by which to judge primary schools, amid fears that poor performers were slipping through the net" according to a report in today's Times.

Hang on Edward, how do you gather data without a proper inspection regime and, err, some bureaucrats?