Tories accuse Phillipson of 'vindictive class war' over private school tax, after family's 900% profit on council house revealed

By ELEANOR HARDING, EDUCATION EDITOR Published: 18:35, 28 June 2026 | Updated: 18:57, 28 June 2026 Bridget Phillipson has been accused of fighting a 'vindictive class war' to 'scratch a party-political itch' over her tax on private school parents. The Education Secretary was savaged by Tory shadow minister James Cleverly for 'punishing' families who use independent schools with the new VAT on fees. It comes after The Mail on Sunday exposed how her family made a profit of 900 per cent on the council house she grew up in thanks to right-to-buy rules. Labour is now legislating to make this much harder – leading to accusations of 'pulling up the drawbridge'. Today, Shadow Housing Secretary Mr Cleverly reignited the row over the private school tax, which has been blamed for the closure of more than 100 institutions. He said: 'Bridget Phillipson has pursued an agenda which has nothing to do with raising money, nothing to do with recruiting teachers. 'It's about punishing people who spend their own money to send their children to private school.' He was responding to questions over whether Tory leader Kemi Badenoch had been right to compare Mrs Phillipson to a 'Gestapo officer' over the tax. Bridget Phillipson (pictured) has been accused of fighting a 'vindictive class war' to 'scratch a party-political itch' over her tax on private school parents.  He said that he would not personally use that 'phraseology', but added: 'We've been traditionally, by the Labour Party, described as lower than vermin, but when Kemi highlights the fact that these policies are vindictive and they are about class war rather than recruiting teachers, she gets vilified by the Labour Party.' And he added: 'I do think we need to be robust, and I do think where we see people, particularly a Secretary of State, particularly the Government, doing things not for the good of the country, but to scratch a party political itch, I think it's absolutely right we call it out.' Labour's election manifesto said the new VAT on private school fees, which was effective from January 2025, was necessary to pay for 6,500 new teachers in the state sector. And Mrs Phillipson appeared to mock private school parents by posting on X in 2024: 'Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery.' However, the latest figures show a reduction of 1,900 teachers in mainstream schools in the last year – calling into question that claim. This week, an X post by Mrs Phillipson was reported as inaccurate by users because it stated there were '3,008 more teachers in secondaries and special schools'. The Department for Education (DfE) claimed this is accurate because the target does not include primary schools and uses November 2023 – eight months before Labour came into power – as a starting point. The row came after it was revealed that in 1990, Mrs Phillipson's mother Clare bought her two-bedroomed council house in Washington, Tyne and Wear, for £9,600 – a 38 per cent discount on the £15,490 market value. It comes after The Mail on Sunday exposed how her family made a profit of 900 per cent on the council house she grew up in (pictured) thanks to right-to-buy rules It remained in the family's ownership until May 2023 when it was sold for £99,950 – a profit of more than 900 per cent. But Labour's Social Housing Bill, currently going through Parliament, will slash the number of families who are able to follow in Mrs Phillipson's footsteps. The legislation will extend the time tenants must have lived in the property before they can exercise their option to buy from three years to ten. And discounts will start at just five per cent of the property value, rising to a maximum of 15 per cent. Ministers say the measures are needed to increase the stock of social housing. They are expected to reduce sales from 8,200 a year to around 850, a drop of about 90 per cent. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.