Ruth Kelly to stand down at next election

Ruth Kelly is not only leaving the cabinet: she is giving up her seat in Parliament at the next election. More on the Guardian site.

Editor's note: The Labour majority in Bolton West is 2064.

Geoff Hoon and Ruth Kelly to leave Cabinet

Newsnight has just claimed there is to be a Cabinet reshuffle next Friday.

They say that Geoff Hoon will be sent to Brussels as Britain's new European Commissioner and that Ruth Kelly has chosen to stand down.

The programme is tipping Liam Byrne and Jim Murphy as the ministers to be promoted.

Geoff Hoon is being interviewed at the moment and has certainly not contradicted any of this.

Ruth Kelly to lose education job

Actually the BBC says:

Ruth Kelly to keep education job

but you know what a headline like that means.

The Lib Dem response to Ruth Kelly

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem shadow education secretary, has issued a press release on Ruth Kelly's education statement today. It begins:

The Government should focus on standards not structures.

It is what happens in the classroom, not the boardroom that makes the difference in a child's education. The Government's proposals today won't change anything, in any classroom, anywhere in the country.

Handing over admissions risks a free-for-all between schools, producing a shambles that will confuse parents, not help them.

If "standards not structures" sounds familiar, Estelle Morris will explain why. Last month, in her first outing as a columnist in the Guardian's Education section, she wrote:

Anyone remember that 1990s mantra, "standards not structures"? I do, mainly because those three words crept into almost every speech I made from about 1995 onwards. They were the headline for Labour's policy in the run-up to the 1997 general election and became the guiding light through much of the next five years.

It is sad that the Liberal Democrats can do no more than pick up a discarded Labour slogan. You could understand it if it were a particularly good one, but I am not sure that it makes much sense.

First, everyone cares about structure. If a Tory government proposed bringing back the 11 plus and grammar schools you would soon see Estelle Morris taking the greatest of interest in structure.

Second, structure does matter. If you get it wrong, standards may well suffer. An educationalist who says "standards not structures" is like a business manager who says "sales not administration". You need both, and it is silly to pretend otherwise.

Ed then goes on to say that Ruth Kelly's statement "won't change anything, in any classroom, anywhere in the country", before warning that it may produce a shambles.

Proposals that change nothing but produce a shambles? Hmm. Ed Davey is an engaging fellow, but this release strengthens the impression that the Liberal Democrats have some hard thinking to do on education.

A Ruth Kelly in every home

Earlier this week I heard Ruth Kelly say that her department is "responsible for parenting". So did Martin Young:

Oddly though, I took my son out on a train-trip to Cheltennam yesterday and most of the parents we saw were busy being responsible themselves. Even in Ruth's absence.

Quite. But give New Labour a few more years...