ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the political origins of public service reforms following the creation of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010 and the consequent limits and possibilities these presented to education, children’s services and the pursuit of social democracy. New Labour governments (1997-2010) had couched public service reform, initially at least, in terms of the Third Way; in other words, as an alternative to both social democracy and neoliberalism. David Cameron, leader of the coalition government, however, promoted what he named a ‘compassionate Conservatism’ under the banner of the ‘Big Society’, to be achieved not through ‘some slick re-branding exercise [but through] fundamental change [so that] we look, feel, think and behave like a completely new organisation’ (Cameron, 2005).
