Brown joins campaign to beat the school bullies

Published on Friday 25 May 2007 12:00

GORDON BROWN was today calling for tougher action by teachers and other professionals to tackle bullying in and around schools.

As part of his Labour leadership campaign, the Prime Minister-in-waiting wants to give teachers new powers to intervene physically to restrain aggressive pupils without fear of court action.

He also wants heads to have new powers to deal with badly-behaved pupils, including those who target other children on their way to and from school.

Mr Brown was backing a campaign by the Beatbullying charity calling for everyone involved - parents, pupils and teachers - to take a stand against bullies.

Mr Brown was also calling for all schools in the UK to have clear authority to enforce detentions and suspensions on badly behaved pupils.

The move follows a recent survey that showed that 40 per cent of secondary school children have been the victim of violence.

Meanwhile, deputy leadership contender and Education Secretary Alan Johnson has accused Industry Minister Margaret Hodge of using the language of the far right BNP over housing.

Ms Hodge had said British families had a "legitimate sense of entitlement" to priority over immigrant families when it came to social housing.

Speaking on BBC TV's Question Time, the Education Secretary said: "My problem with that is that it is the kind of language of the BNP."