While the 83 academy schools that have opened in the UK bear the imprint of Lord Adonis, schools minister and former adviser to Tony Blair, the next 83 may well be reshaped in the image of Ed Balls, the children’s secretary and close confidant of Gordon Brown.

The working relationship between these two veterans of the Blair-Brown power struggles is one of the most closely watched in Whitehall. Education insiders and MPs consider it an indicator not only of the direction in which the academy programme is travelling, but the commitment of the Brown government to pressing ahead with Blairite reforms. Mr Balls has recently committed to accelerating the pace of the programme, with Lord Adonis alongside him retaining a key role in its development.