Yesterday I wrote about the damaging actions of two Cabinet Ministers and Special Advisers to communities 120 miles away from their offices. I did not expect that this would be compounded by the man who is supposed to be in charge of them all. However it seems that the entire Cabinet are determined to prove to the residents of parts of the West Midlands and Muslims throughout the UK that they don’t understand them and they don’t really like them. This morning the Prime Minister appears to be attempting to pour petrol onto the weekend Barbecue embers left by Mr Gove and Ms May. He is apparently attempting to re-write the rule book for OFSTED in a manner of the farmer who bolts his stable door after the horses have all gone. Worse still it seems that OFSTED have been relatively effective in their analysis of the Schools which have been causing greatest concern. What Mr Cameron and his advisers appear not to understand is that due to previous cuts to OFSTED itself, every time they are obliged to respond to a complaint from a parent or teacher, this reduces their capacity to perform regular inspections elsewhere. This means that every concern over a whiff of smoke in one place might prevent finding a hidden flame elsewhere.

The decision in mid April to appoint Peter Clarke to head up the investigation into the Birmingham Schools looked inept and damaging at the time, for him to report this week against the backdrop of the two Cabinet Ministers and Prime Minister trying to outdo one another to claim they have found extremism and fanaticism is much more incendiary. Peter Clarke is undoubtedly a very capable person, but his previous role in counter terrorism makes him at best an insensitive and risky appointment to this role.

This morning 1000’s of Muslim students will be expected to turn up for work, many of them have exams to participate in, most attend Schools that have no problems, yet these students will be as nervous as those attending the Schools under scrutiny. There is never a good time to disrupt educational endeavour but in a Schooling system that has placed so much emphasis on exams, thanks in large part to Mr Gove himself, this is very damaging for all the children affected. We then have long Summer holidays not too far away, before the students are expected to return as though nothing has happened. At present there are a mere 21 Schools that have been complained about, of which 12 have been judged as needing improvements, 5 needing major changes and 3 having been exonerated. However the way this public debate is being handled risks creating tension in 100’s of Schools across the West Midlands and beyond. We can reasonably criticise any Government that does not act when problems are brought to its attention, however to create problems in the confines of the Cabinet Office is surely the worst of all failings.