David Laws tipped to be schools secretary

David Laws, the Liberal Democrat schools spokesman, is tipped to become schools secretary in the new coalition government. The 45-year-old former investment banker, who is on the right of the Lib Dems, would have to drive through Tory plans for "free schools" set up by parents and charities. Laws, who has a double first in economics from Cambridge University, is rumoured to have once been courted to switch to the Conservatives. Michael Gove, who has been the Tory's schools spokesman in opposition, has said he "always admired" Laws. "His is a voice I have always benefited from listening to in the past," he said. Laws is popular with teachers and teaching unions, and was given rousing applause at the National Association of Head Teachers conference last month when he promised that, if the Lib Dems came to power, they would be far more "hands off" than the Labour government has been. The coalition government has agreed to push ahead with the Lib Dem policy to give extra money to schools that take a disproportionate number of poor pupils. This so-called pupil premium is intended to narrow the gap in exam results between disadvantaged children and their richer peers. The Lib Dems pledged £2.5bn on top of the existing schools budget for this policy. The Tories too had a pupil preumium in their manifesto, but Laws has been critical of their version, labelling it "disastrous". A recent study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies claimed that the model the Tories were considering would lead to 57% of secondaries and a third of primaries receiving less money. "They would wreck opportunities for millions of children and would mean many schools have their budgets slashed," Laws said in March. He told the Times Educational Supplement that Gove "has some pretty eccentric ideas – such as giving vocational qualifications no value at all in league tables". What will happen to the structure of the Department for Children, Schools and Families remains to be seen. Both the Lib Dems and the Tories have pledged to reduce its size. Laws was educated at a Roman Catholic independent school in Weybridge, Surrey, and Cambridge. He was vice-president of the investment bank JP Morgan between 1987 and 1992. He was also head of US dollar and sterling treasuries at Barclays de Zoete Wedd. In 1994, he quit to join the Liberal Democrats as their economics adviser. Between 1997 and 1999, he was director of policy and research. He has been an MP since 2001, and has quickly moved up the party. In the run-up to the 2005 election, Laws was in charge of spending commitments. He briefly moved to work and pensions before becoming children, schools and family spokesman in 2007. He has had a prominent role in the coalition talks of the last few days. He co-edited The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism with Paul Marshall in 2004. Contributors included Vincent Cable, Nick Clegg, Edward Davey, Chris Huhne, Susan Kramer, Mark Oaten and Steve Webb. Asked if he was going to be appointed schools secretary, Laws told GMTV this morning: "I have no idea. There were no discussions of jobs when we had the negotiations." He added: "I would like to play my part in any role in supporting the policy document, which is the most important thing." Gove, who was asked if he would like to take on the home secretary role, said: "I would love to be able to help to play a part in making sure that this government is a success. But whatever role I play — backbenches, frontbenches — that is for David Cameron."