Introduced in the United Kingdom under neo-liberal Conservative administrations, the privatization of public education has been a major theme of the present Labour government's education policy framework since 1997. Moreover, it has introduced policies that have facilitated the takeover by commercial and not-for-profit enterprises of state education. In this study, the authors examine the neo-liberal political and ideological origins of privatization and the forms it has taken under Conservative and Labour governments. They draw on documentary and interview data to explore Labour's attachment to a policy direction that seems contradictory to its previous history and traditional values. (Contains 2 endnotes.)