One of George Bush’s major educational initiatives has been No Child Left Behind. While it might actually have been introduced by Bill Clinton, it is President Bush who will be remembered for making it the centrepiece of his education programme during his two terms in office.

It now looks as if (unconsciously we hope) Gordon Brown wants to introduce something similar, with one-to-one tuition for primary students who are falling behind. The centrepiece of his proposal is a new £35m maths scheme called Every Child Counts.

If implemented this may be a boom for companies who can supply these services, and it sounds like a primary school version of what companies like Tribal have been working on with local authorities and GCSE students for the last few years.

Gordon Brown and George Bush, who would have guessed?