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Why has the Tory grammar- school row raged for so long? It is glib to suggest, as some have, that it is simply filling a news vacuum as the political world awaits the ascension of Prime Minister Brown and averts its gaze from the slow car crash of the Labour deputy leadership contest. The truth is that Mr Brown and the six contenders to succeed John Prescott cannot believe their luck. Just when Labour was expecting embarrassing scrutiny of Mr Brown’s coronation and the Wacky Races of the battle for the deputy’s job, the Conservatives have contrived to mount an unexpectedly protracted bout of ‘Tory turmoil’: the first since David Cameron became leader in December 2005.

The depth of interest in the Tories’ schools policy is in one sense a tribute to how far Mr Cameron has brought the Conservatives: now that it is a serious contender for power, what the party says on education (and everything else) is potentially of the greatest importance. It is entirely plausible that, in two years’ time, David Willetts will not only be talking about the nation’s schools, but will also be responsible for them.

But this battle over policy and principle has also shown how far the party still has to travel. Writing in the Mail on Sunday last weekend, Mr Cameron declared that ‘the row about grammar schools is over’. Would that this were so: in fact, the ill feeling sown by the furore is still powerful, in the parliamentary party and among Tory activists.

It was inevitable that Graham Brady, who has spoken out passionately in favour of grammar schools and against the Cameron–Willetts position, would resign his post as shadow Europe minister. The twin forces of self-respect and party discipline gave him no option but to do so.