Bridget Phillipson has just displayed such outrageous hypocrisy I'm ready to explode

Let’s get this out of the way first: I was a comprehensive school kid. My children now attend the same state-funded secondary school as I did - and both are doing well.

But, despite this, I have found myself a fierce defender of private schools as they face being absolutely walloped with a whopping tax bill under Labour.

In fact it’s so vast that their intake of pupils is already starting to plummet as parents fret about rocketing fees that the schools will need to pass on.

The new Labour government reckons that their money grab will mean a better funded state sector. However, as there’s already been an exodus of 10,000 children heading for taxpayer-funded education before it’s even implemented, my prognosis is that it’s a wholly ideological policy, dripping with the politics of envy and nothing more.

Nowhere was this evidenced so clearly than with a statement made by the current Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, this weekend.

It was so unfitting of a Government minister that I was left reeling. Freebie-loving Phillipson - who is supposed to be looking out for the education of all children in this country - bashed out a tweet that, ironically, made it sound like she was still a student of politics herself.

She shared an article by ‘i’ about private schools which claimed that some may need to start offering a no “frills” option without as many extras such as big ticket sporting facilities and posh stationery.

Her tweet said: “Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery. Our children need mental health support more than private schools need new pools. Our students need careers advice more than private schools need AstroTurf pitches.”

It’s fair to say her post went down as well as her acceptance of her Lord Alli-sponsored 40th birthday "event" or her car crash interview, where she looked like she was going to spontaneously combust when asked about snatching a free Taylor Swift ticket for her and her child.

In my experience lefty zealots like Phillipson have a totally warped view of private schools in their tiny minds. They imagine they’re all a Hogwarts-esque version of Eton, crammed with malevolent posh boys in top hats and tails, with parents who could buy them a little island for Christmas.

But her view is so scarily ignorant - and even more so when it’s coming from the woman now in charge of the Department for Education.

She’s wrong because many parents - including some I know - actually struggle to send their children to private schools. They make sacrifices, take on extra jobs and have their stress levels pushed to the max worrying about mammoth school fees, set to increase even further under her Government.

Others have chosen an independent school as it suits their child with special needs better, hence why the policy faces an upcoming challenge in the courts.

Let’s not also forget that Labour’s ill-thought out policy will also rob talented children from deprived backgrounds of scholarships, as many private schools are forced to drastically reign in spending. This is beyond depressing.

This spirit of generosity from some private schools is also why I have a special gripe with those who take aim at Eton.

When I was deputy mayor of Middlesbrough the world-famous school of excellence wanted to help fund and develop a selective college in our area, which has pockets of some of the worst deprivation in the country.

It was a win-win for everyone as our talented children perform well at GCSE, but not as well at A-Level. Unbelievably the local Labour councillors couldn’t wrap their heads around the concept and simply saw it as an attack on their feeble creeds about class.

But, even putting aside those special cases, if you’ve worked bloody hard and see fit to prioritise your child’s education then, as a free country, that should not be sneered at, but actively encouraged.

It is the right of parents to choose how they want their children to be educated - not up to dogma driven idiots, including the current education secretary Bridget Phillipson, who is proud to be peddling a ‘them vs us’ rhetoric.

Surely Phillipson - who was all too happy to give her own child a leg up by the way of a free Taylor Swift ticket - should understand the natural motivation of parents who want the best for their children perfectly.

Or, perhaps, it’s what seems to be playing out with the rest of this Labour government: one rule for them and another altogether for the rest of us.