David Cameron has insisted he will keep his promise not to seek a third term as Prime Minister as he marked 100 days of the first majority Conservative Government since 1997.
The Prime Minister said a decade is a “good long time” to be in Number 10 following suggestions he was under pressure to stay on as Tory leader and premier.
He marked the passing of 100 days since his return to Downing Street with a vow that all schools will be given the chance to convert to academy status.
Asked about his future, the Prime Minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I stand absolutely by what I said. Ten years is a good long time to be Prime Minister and I stand by what I said.
“But I’ve got plenty to get on with, it’s a full manifesto, a strong mandate for it and... 100 days in I think people can see we are delivering the things we said we would – a tax-free minimum wage, more apprenticeships, capping welfare, making work pay. I think it’s been a strong start.”
10 years is a good long time to be Prime Minister and I stand by what I said
The Prime Minister set out his plans for academies in an article in The Daily Telegraph, promising that the government would recruit more academy sponsors and back head teachers to allow thousands more schools to break free of council control. The Conservative leader placed the pledge at the heart of his One Nation vision and said his party would press on with public sector reform as Labour squabbled over its future.
Mr Cameron said he “profoundly believed” academy schools were the right way forward as he placed the schools at the heart of his public sector reforms – and accused Labour of “giving up” on making changes.
He said: “That is why in the first 100 days we have brought forward legislation to transform all failing schools into academies, and for the first time taken the power to convert coasting schools into academies too.
“But we have also seen how these freedoms can help all schools, with more than 3,000 good and outstanding schools already making the decision to become academies themselves.
“So, when Labour leadership contenders say they want to phase out academies, I say the opposite.
“I want every school in the country to have the opportunity to become an academy and to benefit from the freedoms this brings.”