HOME Secretary Jack Straw was today dragged into the Cabinet school holidays row as it emerged that his daughter Charlotte is missing a week of classes to be on a family vacation in India.

The Blackburn MP was under fire after it was revealed that Prime Minister Tony Blair had ignored pleas from Education Secretary David Blunkett not to take youngsters on trips in term time.

He has taken his three children to the Seychelles despite the fact that the two boys - Euan and Nicky - will miss a day's school and daughter Kathryn two.

Mr Straw's A-level student daughter was due back at Pimlico School in South West London - where he used to be chairman of governors - this week.

Instead, she is in India with Mr Straw, wife Alice and her brother William who is taking a year out before going to Oxford University.

Last week, Mr Blunkett announced plans to try to discourage parents from taking children out of school during term time for holidays and to persuade the travel companies from offering much cheaper breaks when schools are open.

The row blew up at the weekend when John McIntosh - head of the Oratory School in Fulham attended by the Blairs' sons - criticised them for taking them out of school without permission.

But Downing Street said Mrs Cherie Blair had written to him asking for authorisation of the absence and assumed when he did not reply that he had approved it.

Under government guidelines, children can have up to ten days off for holidays in term-time with the head's permission but teaching unions say this should be scrapped to stress that absence from class is unacceptable.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.