After attacking faith schools, now Ed Balls turns his sights on grammar schools

David Cameron said the naming of dozens of church schools by the Schools Secretary was intended to undermine Tony Blair's legacy.

The Tory leader's intervention in the row over admissions to top state schools came as new Government guidance showed that grammars will be ordered to take more pupils from poor and ethnic minority backgrounds.

They will be publicly exposed in area-by-area reports and told to adjust their intakes.

They ultimately face being referred to admissions regulators who are being handed sweeping powers to demand 'fair' access.

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Non-selective schools considered to be taking disproportionate numbers of middle-class pupils will also be urged to review their admissions rules, including re- drawing catchment areas.

Critics said the drive amounted to "social engineering" and claimed grammar schools were being targeted.

It follows Mr Balls's revelation last week that nearly 100 schools investigated by his department are flouting admissions rules aimed at preventing 'social' selection by the back door.

In an intervention that shocked Blairites, Mr Balls named 87 faith schools and questioned their 'credibility' for breaking the rules.

He singled out six religious schools - five Jewish - which had told parents they must commit to paying fees, in some cases hundreds of pounds.

His intervention prompted claims that Gordon Brown had let the minister, one of his closest political allies, "off the leash" to attack the faith schools Mr Blair once championed.

Mr Cameron, speaking on Sky News, said: "What Ed Balls is doing in terms of education is completely wrong.

"This onslaught he has launched against faith schools is crazy and attacking some of the best schools in the country. He is accusing them of things often they haven't done."

The attack on Jewish schools was unfair because they needed the money for security, he said.

"A Blair government would never have attacked faith schools because he wanted more school places."

Mr Balls later came under fire over admissions to the country's remaining 164 grammars and schools with largely middle-class intakes.

His department issued farreaching guidance for admissions forums - local groups made up of councillors, officials, heads, parents and church representatives.

It says: "How do grammar schools" free school meal and other deprivation indicators compare with the area in which they are located and other schools in the area?

"Is there a knock-on negative impact on the social structure-academic quality of secondary schools?"

But Robert McCartney, chairman of the National Grammar Schools Association, said: "This is social engineering.

"The motivation is not educational, it is social or political change. It is saying "you ought to be selecting on the basis of ethnicity or social disadvantage rather than academic ability".'

Eric Hammond, chairman of the Support Kent Schools campaign group and a former grammar chairman of governors, said he was "all for" encouraging more children from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply, but school outreach work could go only so far.

"The Government says it is against grammar schools but is afraid of actually tackling them head on so we get this sniping round the edges," he said.

"There should be no attempt at positive discrimination. Putting a child who wouldn't benefit from an academic education into a scene where the rest did would be cruelty."

He added that grammars in many cases took ethnic minority pupils in line with their local population or greater than it.

Mr Cameron faced the worst crisis of his leadership after abandoning the party's historic support for grammar schools.

A spokesman for the Department for Children said: "Admissions rules are not about social engineering, they are about transparency and fairness."

Mr Balls's deputy, Schools Minister Jim Knight, defended his boss's decision to name the faith schools.

"By attacking our action to ensure the admissions code is properly enforced, David Cameron is failing to stand up for parents," he said.

"We have not sought to single out any type of school.