“Rootless cosmopolitan education.”

That’s the scathing assessment former education secretary Michael Gove gave to the International Baccalaureate, according to former universities minister Lord Willetts.

And it appears this disdain for the European qualification has filtered down the system, as the number of British schools providing the IB has plummeted over the last decade - although there has been an increase in the number of pupil entries.

In 2018, just 110 UK schools had pupil entries for IB programmes aimed at 16- to 19-year-olds, compared with 230 in 2008.

Willetts said that Gove’s “High Tory” disdain wasn’t the only thing that has stymied the spread of the IB in schools. There is also a question of cash.

Speaking at an event hosted by the IB Schools and Colleges Association, he said the Treasury also opposed the IB: “If you want to save money you narrow - the whole English model is you save money by getting people through their education quickly, and specialising helps to get them in and out the door quickly.”

Despite Willetts’ support for the IB system, he recognises the power of the A level in English schools and is in favour of reforming the domestic qualification.

“What I would do is I would keep A levels, keep the name A levels, and say: ‘We love A levels so much and are so committed to them, we think it’s a scandal that people can only do three of them.’ The future is a five A-level option, you might even get to six.”