Thousands of teachers stood up to Tory bully Michael Gove yesterday in one of the biggest co-ordinated strikes seen in English schools in a generation.

Hundreds defied disciplinary threats to join noisy marches and rallies in Cambridge, Birmingham and Sheffield jointly organised by unions NUT and NASUWT against the Education Secretary's privatising reforms.

Hundreds more also surrendered a day's pay to turn out at smaller events across huge swathes of eastern England, the Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside.

Five hundred teachers marched through Cambridge to claps and cheers as they wound through the streets of the historic university city.

In the Conservative conference bubble in Manchester Mr Gove paraded a line-up of support acts to promote his changes and flagship privately run but publicly funded "free schools," which critics warn are draining cash from existing education budgets and undermining standards.

Among them was US union turncoat George Parker who once represented teachers in Washington but now says he has "seen the light" and is paid to advocate "reform."

Standing up following a succession of speakers backing his bitterly contested plans Mr Gove said: "I don't need to say anything. They've said everything for me."

But he could not resist hitting out at "militant" trade unions for striking against the fragmentation of state education and an assault on their terms and conditions.

He branded hardworking teachers who joined the walkouts "the enemies of promise."

A world away on the streets of England Mr Gove's targets said that public opinion was turning against his attacks.

Calderdale, Halifax, NUT secretary Sue McMahon reported that she had found that parents understood what was at stake.

"The response was tremendous. Parents listened while this secretary of state refuses to. It's time Michael Gove took his responsibilities to parents seriously."

And NUT deputy leader Kevin Courtney told teachers at a standing-room-only rally in Cambridge that the strike was "entirely Michael Gove's responsibility."

Mr Courtney said that axing qualified teachers, making teachers work until they're 68 and banning new state schools added up to the "biggest attack on working class aspirations in decades."

But he praised Mr Gove for "achieving what once seemed impossible" by uniting Britain's two biggest teaching unions at "local, regional and national level."

Mr Courtney added: "Your problem Michael, is that we have discovered that we can do it."

And he sent a message to Mr Gove at Tory Party conference in Manchester that he can keep "blundering on with the same set of policies - but the mood is changing."

NASUWT deputy general secretary Patrick Roach exposed the real intentions behind Mr Gove's reforms.

He said: "Changes to pay are not about paying teachers more, they are about paying more teachers less.

"Replacing teachers with unqualified staff won't improve children's education.

"The threat to education doesn't come from our action - they come from attacks on teachers, which are attacks on our children's education."

by Will Stone, Luke James & Richard Bagley