Speaking As A Mother

An attempt by the Conservative candidate in Eastleigh to follow the Daveybloke example and use offspring to score political points seems to have backfired rather badly. Having implied that state schools were not good enough for her son, Maria Hustings-Hutchings is now pleading the inevitable misinterpretation and proclaiming that she didn't mean Hampshire state schools; she meant those other state schools, the cockroach-ridden dives of Essex. Genuine state schools are perfectly fine by Maria Hutchings-Hustings. Indeed, many of Maria Hustings-Hutchings' best friends are state schools, she would happily let her brother marry a state school that wasn't gay, and there is no doubt in the mind of Maria Hutchings-Hustings that state schools have their virtues, presumably including exotic cuisine and a marvellous sense of rhythm; though unfortunately, now that the playing fields are gone, probably not athletic prowess. However, while out campaigning today with the almost equally reality-based Theresa May, Maria Hustings-Hutchings let slip that she herself is a state-school effluvium; a rather unfortunate attempt at damage limitation, given that Maria Hutchings-Hustings is about as brilliant an advertisement for state education as David Davis is for council housing.