THERE are two prongs to the government's White Paper proposals today to allow local authority schools to select up to 20 per cent pupils by ability - so spurring John Major's dream of a grammar school in every town.

The first is that of a political stab at Tony Blair's Achilles' heel on education.

With Labour firmly opposed to any extension of selection, there is ample scope for the Tories to score more points over the "hypocrisy" of Labour front bencher Harriet Harman's choice of a grammar school for her son and the party's official denial of the same sort of choice for all other parents.

But though the Tories cannot be blamed for seeking such political advantage, what may concern voters more is the second prong of the policy itself.

The government wants to move towards the restoration of the grammar schools, albeit without the full-blown return also of the controversial 11-plus examination.

Will the electorate buy it?

The existing demand for places at the few remaining grammar schools, and at the independent ones employing the government's assisted places scheme on fees for the less well-off, indicates that parents would indeed welcome there being more grammar-type schools from which to choose.

But they might also reflect that, if this suggests that the existing comprehensive system is a second-best, the government now deriding Labour's desire to retain it as virtually the only choice for most parents has itself kept that institution intact for nigh on two decades.

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