The Department for Education (DfE) initially predicted that 14,000 pupils would leave the private sector by this summer. Labour told us that it was taxing private schools to fund the recruitment of 6,500 additional teachers. Would it not have made more sense to allow private schools to prepare for lost revenue? Lucy Powell, the recently appointed Education Secretary, was waging a war on private education long before she got the job. Under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour wanted to abolish private schools.