Underlining the complexities of party policies and the need to drill down beneath ideology, this interesting, topical and very up-to-date study raises important points about educational policy, Conservative governments and the contested politics of modernisation. Deserves widespread attention.

Jeremy Black, Emeritus Professor at University of Exeter and Author of A History of Britain: 1945 to Brexit, UK

A brilliant and meticulous exposé of the expediency shown by politicians when faced with the dilemma at the heart of secondary education: educationally, selection is the engine of social mobility, but, electorally, it creates a resentful majority who've missed out.

Alan Smithers, Director of Centre for Education and Employment Research, University of Buckingham, UK

In this interesting and well-researched book, Legh ... [provides] an excellent account of the key events in education policy, with some excellent analysis of the underlying causes and impacts of different policies or personnel changes at the Department for Education. The author should be praised for this. Covering the entire twentieth century in policy terms is no mean feat. Not only do the people change, often the policies and priorities change enormously, and the author shows a depth of understanding of the key issues here.

Journal of British Studies