The Diary has always been an admirer of bureaucratic gobbledyegook but rarely have we seen such a choice example as that offered by the first sentence of schools minister David Miliband’s foreword to the new Schools beyond the classroom report. “Education is the number one priority for the Government, for the simple reason - the potential of children and young people, the stem to all our futures,” it says.
The unfortunate Miliband is now furiously trying to disown this load of Miliballs.
“I’m sure I wouldn’t have written such a ridiculous opening sentence,” he says.” It isn’t even a sentence, it’s a bizarre collection of words like a KS2 spelling test.”
It wasn’t even the right kind of nonsense, he claimed: “It’s not complete New Labour gobbledyegook - it doesn’t mention pilots, for example.”