Schools master who preached the message from Tony Blair

When Tony Blair came to power in 1997, he knew he needed Chris Woodhead on board to protect the government from criticism in the rightwing media that Labour was going soft on teachers. David Blunkett, the education secretary, had been warning the prime minister that delivery of the governments education programme was damaged by Woodheads morale-sapping assaults on incompetence within the profession. When the time came in September 1998 to reappoint Woodhead for a further five years, the Treasury was about to spend billions on a performance pay scheme to hang on to staff. Why reappoint the man whose drip-feed criticism was driving so many of them out of the door But Blair saw the Tory-appointed Woodhead as a key weapon in the battle to persuade Middle England that Labour deserved its second term. Number 10 was prepared to tolerate occasional indiscipline and indiscretion as long as the chief inspector backed education programmes that he had done so much to shape. That logic still held firm last night as Woodhead stepped down without an obvious successor in sight. He had seen off rivals who might have stepped into his shoes. Nick Tate, chief executive of the qualifications and curriculum authority, quit this year to become headof Winchester college. Anthea Millett, chief executive of the teacher training agency, also stood down after experiencing the lash of Woodheads tongue. Although there is a cadre of able inspectors in the office for standards in education Ofsted, none appears ready or willing to step into the quasi-political role that Woodhead seized and Blair played to Labours advantage. So his departure will leave a vacuum in the field that the prime minister has declared to be still the governments number one priority. As teachers leaders dance on Woodheads grave, Downing Street may be looking for other measures to show the profession who shoes is boss. As one Downing Street insider put it at the time of the chief executives reappointment

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