School of Blair sons gets extra £315,000

The school to which Tony Blair sends his two sons was given £315,000 a year more than neighbouring comprehensives four years after Labour came to power pledging to abolish its special opted-out status.

Figures released today show that about 200 of the schools which received massive cash bonuses from the Conservatives to opt out of council control are continuing to reap extra benefits totalling £20m a year.

The London Oratory School in Hammersmith and Fulham, west London, which 17-year-old Euan Blair and his brother Nicky, aged 15, attend, was still receiving an extra £315,000 a year in 2001. Two years ago London Oratory's head teacher, John McIntosh, pleaded poverty and urged parents to covenant money every month to boost school funds.

Martin Rogers, co-ordinator of The Education Network, which carried out the survey, described the situation as "completely outrageous''. One school, Dunraven in Lambeth, south London, was still receiving an extra £500,000 a year.