Cameron's Kids Get Free Tennis Lessons - So That's OK then!

In today's PMQs Conservative MP Steve Brine asked Cameron on the Law Tennis Association's scheme to find the next British Wimbledon winner "we need more British tennis winners for British Tennis Competitions". After Cameron predictably toadied up to Andy Murray, he said: "More tennis is being played at his children's school and commends the LTA's efforts".

Oh well that's OK then as long as more tennis is being played in Cameron's kids school and the rest of our children can have more unqualified head teachers deciding to spend taxpayers money on already privileged middle class kids and on so-called Tory "Free Schools. I'm talking about those free schools being set up in areas that do not need extra schools to be attended by the children of over privileged well heeled parents - while other children in other areas and poor children in deprived areas are being denied the funding to build more schools, or extend existing schools to adequately serve the numbers of children needing to attend them!

This is all thanks to Gove and Cameron abolishing the previous Labour government's Building Schools for the Future programme and cancelling the plans and funding that had already been approved and granted to build these new schools. Previously independent fee paying schools are now being reclassified as "free schools"and parents were previously paying for their children's private education and are now being saved £1000's per term because the taxpayers are now picking up the bill for their for them, under this "free-school scam guise! I wonder how much tennis is played at these Tory created so-called "free" schools,  hockey, rugby and cricket too for that matter, while ordinary children and poorer children are missing out because of funding cuts to their sports programmes?

Gove and Cameron have obviously forgotten about what they did to school sport when they first came to assumed unelected power 3 years ago, so let me jog their memory. For the majority of ordinary children attending ordinary schools because of cuts in funding and this government abolishing SSPs,  games and PE in schools is being scaled back and we are also losing the sporting legacy of London 2012.

[In January 2013] "Exactly six months on from the start of the Games, an Opinium/Observer poll shows that only 10% of people believe the government has played its part in increasing support for sport in schools and communities in the runup to – and since – last summer's Olympics.By contrast, 55% say support has either stayed the same or been cut back since the coalition came to power. 

Among parents of youngsters under 18, the figures are even more stark. Only 17% of parents say government support has increased since 2010, while 65% say it has either stayed the same or been cut". The Guardian

Has Cameron also forgotten that when this Tory-led coalition government came to power they abolished the previous Labour government's highly successful free swimming programme which was available for ALL of our children at all of our council run leisure centres? (Yet another shameless attack on the poor)

Cameron and his government also shut down Labour's world-class system of School Sport Partnerships (SSPs) programme and only partially restored it because of pressure from celebrity sports stars!

Education Secretary Michael Gove withdrew £168 million for the SSPs as one of his first acts of government. Under Labour's successful SSPs, certain secondary schools were chosen as sports "hubs", which then co-ordinated expert teaching across all primary schools in their areas and organised after-school clubs. Gove abolished the target of at least two hours of PE per pupil per week. Under Labour, the proportion of children reaching this target had risen to over 90%.

Still I suppose cuts had to be made, the funding for Gove elitist parents "free schools" had to come from somewhere and who the hell cares about the kids from the local council estates?

Just as long as Cameron's kids get their free tennis lessons at school!