Tristram is no loss to Labour

Even Tom Watson surely had his fingers crossed when stating that Tristram Hunt`s "departure will be keenly felt by parliament and by the Labour party". Other claims that he was damaging the party when he resigned his Commons seat last week, simply don`t make sense.

Many will think that he did enough damage beforehand!

        Resigning mid-term, after repeatedly criticising state educated pupils for their lack of resilience, is bad enough, but in his role as shadow education secretary, his refusal to listen to experts, the educationalists and teachers, was all too obvious.  What other explanation can there be for such ludicrous ideas as all teachers having to swear an oath promising to work hard, Performance Related Pay for all teachers, support for free schools, and the re-licensing of teachers every five years.                             

       Hunt`s "frustration" apparently stems from the lack of clarity in some of Corbyn`s announcements, but he clearly has a short memory. When questioned about his own children`s future schools, Hunt`s reply was that they should  "never rule out what takes place", whilst  his crossing a picket line of outsourced and underpaid university workers, striking for a living wage, did much to alienate traditional Labour supporters throughout the country, let alone those in his constituency!

The knives will be out for Corbyn if the seat is lost, but the real blame clearly lies elsewhere.