Tory leader challenged on schooling for the disabled

David Cameron was confronted today by the father of a boy with spina bifida.

Jonathan Bartley, with wheelchair-bound Samuel, seven, told Mr Cameron in Kennington that Tory support for more specialist schools would "segregate" disabled children into special schools.

Mr Bartley, co-director of Christian think tank Ekklesia, said he had fought for two years for his son to go to the same Streatham primary school that his sisters attend.

Mr Cameron said he understood the problems, having cared for his disabled son Ivan, who died last year.

"You are trying to get what you want for your children," he told Mr Bartley.

"I know what a fight I had for my son to get him an education." Mr Bartley later revealed he had been taking his son to a hospital appointment when a Tory official asked if they would like to meet Mr Cameron. "They didn't know I was going to raise this," he told Sky.