By focusing their attacks on Tony Blair's decision to allow his children to miss school, opposition groups are ignoring a far greater educational scandal.

The revelation that Euan, Nicky and Kathryn Blair will forego a day or two of school has left their dad squirming at his Seychelles retreat. Only days earlier Education Secretary David Blunkett said that parents should not take their children out of school during term time.

The Tories have already accused Labour of double standards. But the row obscures a far worse example of its hypocrisy. The party that trumpets "education, education, education" now expects parents to collect tokens to buy school books.

A 'free books for schools' promotion began in two national newspapers today. Backed by television advertisements, the papers urge parents to start collecting tokens. One hundred can be exchanged for a paperback, 500 swapped for a dictionary.

The campaign is also backed by the makers of such snacks as Walker's Crisps, Quavers, Doritos and Cheetos.

Various celebrities, including the Duchess of York and Gary Lineker, have queued up to support the promotion, and enjoy the associated good publicity.

More worryingly, Mr Blunkett has been quick to endorse it. "We are committed to raising standards of literacy and we are asking the nation to join this campaign," he said today. Voters may now consider whether that commitment is serious - or merely a token gesture.

Our schools should not have to rely on the goodwill of newspaper readers and crisp eaters for a supply of books. Neither should parents be expected to take their scissors to the morning paper in order to ensure their children have reasonable educational resources.

Every school should boast a decent library as a matter of course, paid for by the taxpayer. Our children deserve nothing less.

It is disgraceful that the Labour Government is not funding schools' books budgets adequately. And it is scandalous that ministers are expecting this blatantly commercial campaign to make up that shortfall.

This is nothing less than the privatisation of school resources. The companies involved are not taking part for purely altruistic reasons. It will be interesting to see whether sales of Walker's Crisps rise sharply in the coming weeks.

New Labour has made much of its commitment to education. Ministers regularly boast of the extra money they are spending on schools. But it is clearly far from enough if we still need to contribute these tokens.

Mr Blair should hurry back to Britain and explain his new policy. It is not just his own children's education that is at stake.

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