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Student fees row was 'last straw' for Morris

Andy McSmith
Sunday 27 October 2002 00:00 BST
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Estelle Morris was embroiled in a furious argument with Downing Street over the future of universities in the days before her resignation.

The dispute had reached such a level that Ms Morris objected to having Tony Blair's chief policy adviser, Andrew Adonis, take part in meetings on the funding of higher education.

Mr Adonis, who heads the Downing Street Policy Unit, is a powerful supporter of a plan to allow universities to increase their income by introducing top-up fees for students. The idea is bitterly opposed by traditionalists like Ms Morris, who fear it will deny students from poor families a place at prestigious universities.

One insider said the row was "the straw that broke the camel's back", triggering her decision to resign.

Top-up fees would also be a dramatic change of policy for Labour. The manifesto on which Mr Blair had fought last year's general election promised: "We will not introduce 'top-up' fees and have legislated to prevent them."

However, Britain's university system is critically short of money. Next month, a government White Paper will propose what are said to be radical reforms, touching on new ways of attracting funds.

Several universities have floated the idea of top-up fees. Imperial College, London, has suggested that students may have to pay £10,500 for some courses plus extras costing up to £4,500.

The task of presenting the White Paper would have fallen to Ms Morris but will now be taken on by her successor, Charles Clarke.

Hours after his appointment, Mr Clarke surprised listeners at a reception in the department for education when he said he welcomed a debate on top-up fees, although he added that his own views were "generally anti".

According to one Whitehall source, Ms Morris was "very hostile" to the idea.

He added: "She had weathered all the storms of the past few weeks. She was just at a period when she was coming out of the worst, when the Tories came up with evidence that she had misled a select committee.

"Nobody thought that was a genuine crunch issue. But I think she felt this undermined her position when there was an argument about the White Paper on student funding, and she felt she had lost. This was the straw that broke the camel's back."

Ms Morris hinted on the day she resigned that her departure was linked to problems in the department which were not related to the series of controversies over the running of schools.

She told the BBC that to run the department for education "you have to balance not only schools, which I love, but other parts of the portfolio".

Margaret Hodge, the higher education minister, confirmed that there have been tense discussions within the Government about a "generation of underfunding'' in the university system.

"It's a real crisis. The department has been lobbied vociferously. There are tensions, all the time, between the interests of students, the interests of higher education and the interests of the knowledge economy."

Yesterday Mr Blair's press spokesman said: "The genuine reality is that there was no one factor which caused Estelle Morris to resign. Some people have over-egged the issue of media intrusion. I suggest you don't over-egg the issue of higher education. In terms of top-up fees, the policy has not been decided."

Ms Morris said that media intrusion into her private life was one of the reasons why she was no longer enjoying her job.

Gerald Kaufman, the veteran Labour MP who chairs the Commons culture committee, said in an interview to be broadcast this morning by GMTV: "I really do sympathise with her personally but, as Harry Truman said, 'If you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen'.''

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