Ruth Kelly has 'failed to put
in the hours'.
Photograph: Matthew Fearn/PA Ruth Kelly evidently did not realise that her department had allowed a sex offender to take up a job as a PE teacher. So the papers stop short of calling for her resignation today. Nonetheless, the discovery that the Department of Education had cleared a "small number" (around 10, the Times says) of sex offenders to work in schools contributes to the general impression that Ms Kelly is not on top of her job.
The Daily Mail deploys the redoubtable Geoffrey Levy to profile the education secretary, who he describes as an "arrogant android with a nine-to-five brain ... this dedicated Catholic, a member of the controversial and secretive organisation Opus Dei." Ms Kelly, he suggests, has failed to "put in the hours", preferring to spend evenings with her four children. Other female Labour MPs dislike her "patronising" manner and men are envious of her rapid rise. She looked "stressed" and far older than her 38 years yesterday, he writes.
The Times says an "intense search" is underway to find sex offenders whose names were not added to "List 99", the government blacklist banning them from schools.
Tony Blair's spokesman said he retained full confidence in Ms Kelly, but the Mirror insists her job is on the line: "TELL US THE TRUTH, RUTH." She comes under further pressure in the Guardian, which splashes with Neil Kinnock's criticisms of the government's school reforms. The proposals to allow schools to impose their own
criteria for admissions are "at best a distraction and at worst dangerous", Lord Kinnock tells the paper.
Whether tomorrow's leader columns call for her resignation will depend on how well she performs in the Commons today. Losing one female education secretary, Estelle Morris, because she "wasn't up to the job" looks unfortunate; losing two would make Mr Blair look foolish, too.
