A PLEDGE by Conservative leader David Cameron to abandon a commitment to bring back the 11-plus has been criticised by one of the party’s major donors.

Stuart Wheeler, who lives at Chilham Castle, near Canterbury, says he would have preferred the Conservatives to have maintained their support for grammar schools.

"I would have created more grammar schools. He [Cameron] said grammar schools are unpopular but I don’t think they really are unpopular," said Mr Wheeler, who founded the IG spread betting empire and has donated tens of thousands of pounds to the Tories. s.

In an interview, Mr Wheeler said that while Mr Cameron had done "a fantastic job" since becoming leader "he should have stuck with academic selection to a much higher degree than he’s willing to."

Mr Cameron spelled out his policy U-turn recently when he said: "Under my leadership, there will be no going back to the 11 plus, no going back to grammar schools. I want no child held back, so my priority is not selection by ability between schools, but setting by ability within schools."

Mr Wheeler also took the new leader to task over a pledge to tackle world poverty.

"I don’t think it is the very first thing that the leader of a party should tackle. The first thing is to look after the interests of your own country."

Despite his misgivings, Mr Wheeler confirmed that he had made further donations to the Conservatives since Mr Cameron replaced Michael Howard as leader.