Professor Brighouse said: "We should encourage the private schools to forgo the purpose of creating an exclusive class of rulers, for an opportunity to contribute to the overall social goal of equal opportunity."

But the Labour party appeared reluctant to back the professor's call to abolish selection by ability.

Government sources said: "We haven't got any plans to change our policies on this."

Focus on disadvantaged

Professor Brighouse argues the less academically talented are as important as the more academically talented, which justifies society putting more resources into their education than that of the more talented.

Studying at university is a key way of improving a person's economic status and should be available to more children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

State school pupils are losing out, he claims, because relatively able and well-behaved children from educated homes were using the independent sector.

Attack on New Labour

The growth of the private sector should be a "deep embarrassment to a government committed to equal opportunity", Professor Brighouse said.

"And Labour's silence about private schooling is new. Hostility to the private sector is almost as old as the Labour Party itself."

Professor Brighouse's report documents Labour's 1983 manifesto, which said the sector was "a major obstacle to a free and fair education system able to serve the whole community".

The 1997 manifesto though was silent about private schools, except for pledging to abolish the assisted places scheme.

Better results

In his report, Professor Brighouse highlights the fact that the private sector now accounts for 6.5% of all school-age children, up from 5.5% in the mid 1970s.

And this was in spite of the decline in boarding schools, he said.

Referring to statistics from the Independent Schools Information Service (Isis), he reflected how fees have been rising.

Average day fees were up 6.6% in 2000 to nearly �6,000 per annum, following a 5.7% increase in 1999.

Private schools can boast success, with Isis estimating that 36% of their schools' A-level entries achieved grade A this year (up from 34.8% in 1999).

This compares to the national improvement of just 0.3% (up to 17.8%), Professor Brighouse said.

At GCSE, 51.2% of all private school entries were A or A*, up from 50.3% in 1999: the national improvement was just 0.6%t (up to 15.8%).