Focus: The Class War - Privilege: The British Disease That Just Won't Go Away John, Tony and Gordon: different backgrounds but there's one thing they all agree on: class still matters and that's got to change. In this four-page special we examine the issue set to dominate the next election FOREIGN Edition

• Published in: Independent (London, England : 1986)
• Main Author: JO DILLON & COLIN BROWN
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Independent Digital News & Media 04.06.2000
• Subjects: Blair, Tony; Brown, Gordon; Campbell, Alastair; Spence, Laura
• ISSN: 0951-9467

The [Laura Spence] saga came about by accident. Chancellor Gordon Brown's speech to the TUC, which condemned as an "absolute scandal" the comprehensive school pupil's failure to get a place at Oxford, despite being an A-grade student capable of winning a scholarship to the prestigious Harvard University in the United States, was immediately seen as an attempt to snatch headlines while Mr [Tony Blair] was on paternity leave. In fact, there was more cock-up than conspiracy about the Chancellor's tactics. The clearest evidence that the impact of Mr Brown's speech was not planned comes from a leaked copy of the weekly strategy grid of Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's press secretary, a copy of which the Independent on Sunday has obtained. Marked "restricted", it gave Downing Street insiders a plan of the week ahead, including key speeches. The agenda for Thursday made no mention of Mr Brown's speech to the TUC. The die was cast. Additions to the debate were lapped up by a media chanting the slogans of class war. The Government said it was not "anti-university", it was not engaging in a "class war". The Tories stood four square with Oxbridge; they would defend these centres of excellence against what they saw as the creeping return of Labour's politics of envy. Class war or not, the battle had begun. There was the clear blue water between the two main political parties which they had both been looking for.