𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has been accused of “exaggerating” her claims of a humble childhood by a former neighbour. Ms Phillipson, 42, grew up with her mother in a terraced property in Washington, Tyne and Wear, during the 1980s before it was bought by the family under Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme in 1990.

Speaking to Times Radio, the Labour Cabinet Minister said the house with in a “terrible state” and had no heating upstairs and rotten windows. Ms Phillipson has also said “we had it hard” when discussing her childhood and that she was “incredibly fortunate” to have got to where she has now as an MP.

It has previously been revealed Ms Phillipson’s family made a 900% profit selling their council house, although she described the allegations as a “manufactured smear”.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday Tracey Morgan, 61, who has lived a few doors from the former Phillipson home since 1989, said she thought the Phillipson family looked “comfortable” and “not poor”.

She told the paper: “The upstairs rooms had electric bar heaters, and downstairs rooms had radiators heated by back boilers. I remember seeing Clare (Ms Phillipson’s mum) and her daughter, I thought they looked comfortable, and not poor.”

Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, poured cold water on the minister’s poverty claims.

She said: “I think a lot of this stuff is being fabricated. These are old houses, but as long as I’ve lived here it’s been fine.”

Clare Phillipson is reported to have moved into the Washington street in the early 1980s, with Bridget residing there from her birth in 1983.

A source close to Ms Phillipson said of the Mail on Sunday story that the recollections of other neighbours vary and agree with that of the Education Secretary.

The source added: “This is a desperate attempt at mud slinging that’s clearly motivated by a dislike of Bridget’s politics and her taking on of vested interests.

“Claims by apparent neighbours as to the state of their homes in the 90s have no bearing on the state of Bridget’s mum’s home in the 1980s. She is proud to be in a government lifting over half a million children out of poverty and these ridiculous attacks won’t change that.”

Last month Bridget Phillipson clashed with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch over Labour’s slashing of VAT relief for private schools. During her regular exchange with Sir Keir Starmer, Mrs Badenoch had said Ms Phillipson “taxed private schools to pay for more teachers but the number of teachers has gone down”.

“It turns out appointing a spiteful class warrior as Education Secretary was a disaster,” she said, suggesting Sir Keir had been “let down by her incompetence”.

Sir Keir defended Ms Phillipson, who “grew up in poverty” and was an “incredible story of social mobility and success”. After the ill-tempered Prime Minister’s Questions exchanges, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and Ms Phillipson were involved in a further incident with the Tory leader.

Ms Kendall is understood to have told Mrs Badenoch that what she said was outrageous as the trio met in the division lobby. A Tory source said Mrs Badenoch responded by telling the Education Secretary “I’ll fight you all the way, you’re destroying children’s lives” – a reference to the imposition of VAT on private schools.

Other sources suggested Mrs Badenoch told Ms Phillipson “you are spiteful, I’m never going to stop talking about how spiteful you are”. Ms Phillipson is understood to have told the Tory leader: “The public are going to find out who you really are.”

On social media following the spat, Ms Phillipson said: “Kemi lost her head at PMQs – and afterwards too. It’s not the first time. She’s compared me to a Gestapo officer.

“I wonder what it is about a working class woman driving record investment in state schools by ending private schools’ tax breaks that the Tories hate so much.”