Oliver Bloody Letwin .....

You just had to go and blow it, didn't you. You spoke truth from the heart - such a rare thing for a politician.

Surprise surprise - the BBC and Guardian didn't like it. Wow.

And then you had to climb down.

Why didn't you just make a public statment to the effect that you were sorry if the state schools were upset, that you had great respect for the difficult jobs the teachers were doing - but that you'd still walk on broken glass to send your children somewhere else.