Can we have what you had, Mr. Brown?

When the Prime Minister (its so weird writing that) told us on the steps of No10 that he “went to the local school” in Kirkcaldy and chose its motto as his personal leitmotif, it is worth recalling the type of education he actually had. He enjoyed the ultimate academic selection, being chosen from primary with other boys with IQs over 130 who joined an “E Stream” and were sent a year early to Kirkcaldy High. It worked so well he was at university aged 16. But as he just said, “I would not be standing here without that opportunity.” Any chance of him extending that opportunity of academic selection to the millions stuck in dead-end comprehensives, then?

Also, his phrase “British way of life” – as I write in tomorrow’s Spectator – means immigration, the public’s top priority , is back on Labour’s radar. He’s moving in on Tory territory, and the race for Middle England’s vote is now on.