Schools are held hostage by politicians' control-freakery | Simon Jenkins

Local authorities are effective guarantors of educational standards. Gove, Hunt and Blunkett need to get out of the way

The true test of any reform is that it sticks. The education secretary, Michael Gove, seems to have failed it. Boldly determined to transform England's schools and defy leftwing teachers, he has made so few friends and so many enemies that the latter are out to smash his achievements. Labour's Tristram Hunt and David Blunkett this week began the demolition. If Labour comes to...