Concerns about schools in Braintree dominated a hustings event featuring all seven of the constituency’s candidates.

Anger about the situation at Tabor Academy prompted Tory front-runner James Cleverly to promise that education will be one of his “top, top priorities” if elected.

Mr Cleverly told the 200-strong crowd at St Peters-in-the-Field Church in Bocking on Friday night, that what happened at Tabor Academy was “unacceptable.”

A current teacher at the school told the meeting that working under the former bosses- who presided over the school as it was put into special measures by Ofsted- was like being in an “abusive relationship.”

She said she was concerned that the new sponsors would also take the same corporate approach to education.

But Mr Cleverly said there was no reason to think the Loxford School Trust could not turn the school around.

He said: “The academy group has let down the staff, parents and children at Tabor.

“But saying that no academy is going to be successful is wrong. The solution is not to write off academies but to make sure that academy sponsors do their job properly.”

See this week's Braintree Times for a full report.