TEACHERS reacted furiously today after a Tory education minister bet school chiefs a bottle of champagne that he could find more to cut in their schools.

Multimillionaire Academies Minister Lord Agnew told the School and Academies Show in Birmingham that he was like a “pig hunting for truffles” when it came to identifying “waste” in schools. 

Cradling a copy of a book entitled The Future of Capitalism, the founder of the Inspiration Trust academy chain asked head teachers to take up his wager that he could identify potential cuts in their school and promised them a bottle of bubbly if he failed to do so.

National Education Union joint executive council member Gawain Little said Lord Agnew’s comments were “a bloody disgrace” at a time when “schools with inadequate, overstretched budgets are doing their best to support children who come in hungry and malnourished, all because of the political choices made by this government.

“Incompetent ministers see fit to make light of the situation, flaunting their personal wealth and insulting head teachers,” Mr Little added.