Jim Knight MP, Labour's Schools Minister, today challenged the Conservatives to come clean on whether they support new grammar schools.

Mr Knight has written to the shadow schools secretary Michael Gove who is today visiting grammar schools with Graham Brady, the former shadow Europe minister, who resigned last year in protest at the Conservative Party's policy on academic selection.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said:

"The Conservative frontbench are as divided on grammar schools as they are on 42 days and Europe. The higher education spokesman David Willetts believes grammar schools 'entrench advantage'. The new shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve wants more grammar schools in his constituency. The former shadow home secretary David Davis has called for at least 20 new grammar schools.

"But we do not know where David Cameron or Michael Gove really stand or what Conservative Party policy is today. David Cameron has relied on shallow salesmanship to dodge the tough questions for over a year but it's now time for the Tories to come clean."

In his letter, Jim Knight set out seven questions Michael Gove must answer:

• Do you support plans for a new grammar school in Buckinghamshire?

• Would you change the law to allow new grammar schools to be built?

• Do you agree with Graham Brady when he says grammar schools "drive social mobility"?

• Do you agree with Dominic Grieve when he says that further grammar schools should be built if they are "needed"?

• Do you agree with David Davis when he says we should build 20 new grammar schools?

• Do you agree with David Willetts when he says grammar schools "entrench advantage"?

• Do you agree with David Cameron when he says the idea that the Tories would build new grammar schools is "delusional" and an "electoral albatross"?

ENDS

Editors' notes:

1. Graham Brady resigned from the Conservative frontbench on 29 May 2007. He said the argument that grammar schools and selection impeded social mobility was "the opposite of the truth". He added: "Grammar schools in selective areas are exactly the motor that does drive social mobility more effectively than comprehensive areas."