Diane and Gordon do education on a good day to bury...

Gordon Brown and Diane Abbott visited Woodberry Down primary school yesterday - as reported by The Hackney Citizen.

Diane's reluctant support of the Academy programme and her decision to send her son to private school are two good reasons for an education-related trip to Hackney North to be a PR hazard, despite its success stories.

So, was Diane gritting her teeth when - as the Hackney Citizen reported - "The Prime Minister also announced plans to give parents more power to initiate a change of leadership at struggling schools, as well as plans to make teachers renew their right to practise every five years."

Unless things have changed, Diane has her doubts about empowering parents.

In a 2006 NASUWT-sponsored paper (Academy schools: case unproven) Diane said: "... We know what parent power means in London. In practice, it means giving power to small groups of white middle-class parents, or if not to capture by one ethnic group as opposed to another, the best organised. Actually, if you want to empower the breadth of the parent body in inner-city areas you have to look to the local education authority."

Diane answers Blood and Property questions.