This could be New Labour at its most sanctimoniously utopian. Have Gove and Cameron learnt nothing from the disasters of the last 12 years? Is it that they have no concept of an education policy rooted in Conservative values? Or is it that they are too intimidated by the messages from their focus groups to stand up for what matters?

Cameron tells us that he wants to "give people more responsibility". He says, "If you trust people, they will tend to do the right thing." He also says, "We must never be limited in our aspirations for government" and that a Conservative government under his leadership would "guarantee the provision of high-quality, efficient public services" and "work tirelessly for social justice and a responsible society".

He cannot have it both ways. How, having devolved power to the people, is his government going to guarantee high-quality schools? More fundamentally, who is going to decide what constitutes a high-quality education? Gove, who wants a traditional, academic curriculum, school uniform, streaming and synthetic phonics — or the parent who wants none of these things? If Gove were really to free schools, I would be the first to cheer. As it is, I despair at the pretence.

Under a Conservative government, most state schools will have to conform to the demands of the National Curriculum. All will be inspected by Ofsted. None will be able to determine its own admissions policy. None, of course, will be able to select its pupils in terms of their academic ability. The teachers they employ will, as now, need to have been brainwashed by teacher-training institutions, which have to conform to the demands of the TDA. Their head teachers, unless Gove changes his mind, will have to have spent a year listening to the gurus of "personalised learning" who rule the National College of School Leadership.

A genuine Conservative education policy would abandon the pretence that every child is equal and that schools can solve the unhappiness of man. It would free schools from state control and encourage them to compete one with another to meet the different demands of their potential customers. It would give each parent a sum of money that equates to the average cost of educating a child in a state school and allow them to cash that "voucher" in payment or part-payment of fees in an independent school. In doing so, it would give parents a real choice, attract new providers of education into the market and encourage competition between and among schools.

We would have a genuine Conservative education policy. Voters would have a real choice at the next election.