AS the headteacher of Framwellgate School, in Durham, Andy Byers is responsible for enforcing discipline and ensuring that none of his students are subjected to bullying because they are perceived to be ‘different’.

It cannot be an easy job at the best of times, but Mr Byers clearly feels it is being made more difficult by the current political climate and the language that some of our leading politicians routinely use.

As a result, Mr Byers took the highly unusual step of writing a lengthy letter to the parents and carers with students at his school, bemoaning the fact that his pupils were routinely exposed to “abhorrent and unpleasant views” that influenced their behaviour.

Mr Byers criticised Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump, concluding that the current group of political leaders are “perhaps the worst we have ever seen”.

He also expressed concern that unpleasant views were going unchallenged. “Sadly, there are some parents who share and agree with these views,” he wrote. “Their children hear no counter argument, other than at school.”

Should it be a teacher’s job to mould their students’ political views? Different parents will have different opinions on that, but if they believe their school is being damaged by rising intolerance, they are surely right to speak out.

And it says much that some of our leading politicians, who should be setting an example, are the very people identified as a key part of the problem.