LABOUR’S kneejerk response to outrage over pervert teachers has been to blame the Press.
So where do we stand today?
Ruth Kelly has belatedly slammed the classroom door on paedophiles.
Was she driven by media pressure? Or because it was the right thing to do?
Kelly’s complacent officials sat on their hands for 18 months — despite the lessons of Soham.
Who knows how much longer they would have dithered, but for newspapers exposing this scandal?
Of the 10 perverts cleared by ministers since Labour came to power, HALF got the green light during Kelly’s year in charge.
Even after yesterday’s crackdown, dozens of sex offenders may still be allowed to work with children.
Kelly has yet to apologise and defiantly believes she’s not to blame.
She is not off the hook.
Her handling of this job has already forced Tony Blair to delay his Cabinet reshuffle once.
The PM wanted to sack her, but needs someone to push through his vaunted education reforms.
The question to be resolved over the coming days is whether he can risk his own neck by keeping her.
