Peter Hoskin

Responsibilty-dodger <em>extraordinaire</em>

Did any CoffeeHousers watch Ed Balls being grilled in the Commons, just over an hour ago?  Unfortunately, I had to miss it, but reading the transcripts over on Politics Home it seems like Balls is shamelessly continuing to dodge responsibility.  Here’s a snippet of what he had to say:

“I share the frustration and anger – this should not have happened…

…The contract with ETS had been drawn up at arms length to ministers – any contractual discussions are for QCA and ETS.”

Gove’s reponse was typically punchy.  Here’s the killer line, which deserves to be plastered all over the news this evening:

“Don’t pupils, parents and teachers deserve better than a Secretary of State who fails the most basic test of all – competence.”

One wonders whether any other minister than Balls would still be in their job if they’d presided over a similar crisis. 

P.S. Read Stephen’s take on it here.

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