Schools reformer Mark Lehain faces battle to become Tory MP, in city which has proven stony ground for free schools

Will the latest attempt by a former leader of the New Schools Network (NSN) to seek election as a Conservative MP prove more successful than the last?

The question arises after Mark Lehain, who for seven months last year was interim director of the free schools lobbying and support group, unsurprisingly announced he was about to stand for the Tories.

I say “unsurprisingly” as Lehain had told the TES three weeks ago that he was leaving his position as director of another lobby group, “Parents and Teachers for Excellence” (PTE), and that he was moving to a new role which would “be devoted to improving debates and conversations in other areas of policy”.

Background and prospects

To describe the path from the NSN to the higher echelons of Tory policymaking and politics as “well-trodden” may be akin to saying that Harry Kane has scored a few goals for England, or that Boris Johnson may have voiced the occasional untruth.