Osborne enters grammar schools row

Mr Osborne insisted that countries in the "mainstream" of thinking on education - such as America - would not allow selective schools to appear.

Pressed by a Conservative activist from Buckinghamshire on whether the party would permit them to open new grammars which had local support, Mr Osborne said: "We don't believe in schools choosing pupils. We believe in pupils choosing schools.

"That is where the mainstream of the education debate is all around the world. You go to the United States, you go to other countries in Europe, that's what they are talking about.

"They wouldn't allow schools to emerge and take funding that had academic selection as a criterion for entry. That is the mainstream education debate in the rest of the world and we're suggesting that Britain and the Conservative party joins that mainstream debate."

His comments were immediately attacked by former shadow Europe minister Graham Brady, who resigned on Tuesday in protest at the policy. Mr Brady - the first front-bencher to quit under David Cameron's leadership - said the Conservative position of keeping the 164 existing grammar schools but ruling out creating any more was "illogical".

"This question highlights the illogicality of supporting popular selective systems but preventing them from expanding when parents want them to," the MP for Altrincham and West Sale said.

"If population is growing in a selective Local Education Authority area, whether it's Buckinghamshire or Trafford, surely new grammar schools should be available. In areas which are currently selective it's a very odd position."

Speaking at an event organised by think-tank Policy Exchange in London, Mr Osborne at first insisted only that the Tories would not "promote the opening of new grammar schools".

However, he went further after being repeatedly questioned over whether any new grammars would be permitted with local support. Mr Osborne also risked infuriating party traditionalists by claiming that the Conservatives - and not Gordon Brown - were the true heirs to Tony Blair's legacy. He said they agreed with the current Prime Minister on the "essentials of the way forward" for public services.