Michael Gove has reopened old wounds from the coalition government by claiming one of his proudest achievements is introducing the pupil premium – a policy the Liberal Democrats insist was their signature education reform, which has since been underfunded by the Tories. In a speech last Saturday on restructuring government entitled “The privilege of public service”, Gove cited the pupil premium as “one of the reforms of which I am proudest”. The education secretary during the coalition years added: “I believe it has been transformative”, adding that proper data was now needed to judge just how effective it had been. But his comments angered leading Liberal Democrats who insist that although the Tories had also mentioned a premium for poor pupils in their 2010 election manifesto, the drive to introduce it under David Cameron’s government came from them. They say they had to fight constantly to fund it properly during the coalition years from 2010 to 2015, as the government ordered huge cross-departmental austerity cuts. The premium is additional funding provided to publicly funded schools in England with the aim of raising the attainment of disadvantaged children, including those eligible for free school meals. Liberal Democrat leadership candidate Ed Davey, who was energy and climate change secretary in the coalition government, said last night: “While it’s not surprising Michael Gove wants to try to claim credit for one of the most radical and progressive education policies of the last 40 years, he gets a C- for history and less for honesty, because the policy was a Liberal Democrat innovation and a huge achievement by Lib Dem ministers. “Conservative ministers know very well that whether it’s the trebling of renewable power, the raising of the income tax threshold or the pupil premium for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, these were Liberal Democrat policies, which we had to fight the Tories every day in government to achieve.” His fellow leadership contender, Layla Moran, accused Gove of “shamelessly rewriting history”. She said: “The pupil premium was fought for and delivered by the Liberal Democrats in government to give children from disadvantaged backgrounds the best possible start in life. If the Tories were truly proud of this policy, they would not have slashed funding for the pupil premium by millions of pounds in real terms since 2015.” The Lib Dems and Labour have complained that funding was frozen after 2015, although for the year 2020-21 it has been raised in line with inflation. James McGrory, who was a special adviser to deputy prime minister Nick Clegg during the coalition said: “With the pupil premium, Michael Gove is yet again polishing his brass neck. “It was a Liberal Democrat policy, which Gove and the Tories had to be fought tooth and nail to deliver in government, especially when it came to early years education. “It also speaks volumes that Gove is prouder of something Nick Clegg and David Laws did than he is of his own much-vaunted and misguided Free Schools crusade.” The Conservatives say the pupil premium was included in their manifestos not only in 2010, but also in 2015 and 2017, and that they remain fully committed to it.