Teachers need a Royal College, says MP Charlotte Leslie, who sits on the education committee, said there is now "passionate consensus" between schools, unions and the Government over the need for a Royal College, which could give teachers training throughout their careers. Writing for Telegraph.co.uk, Miss Leslie said an official Royal College would help put teachers "on a more even footing with other professions," as she published a new book exploring how a new body could be set up. She said unions already back the idea as it would "raise the status of teaching." It would also be an "organisation which the teachers themselves will respect because it is run not by Whitehall or Westminster, but by members of the teaching profession who have a track record of improving education," she said. Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, last week appeared to back the idea, saying there is "growing" evidence that a Royal College of Teaching would help guard standards, like similar professional bodies in medicine. He said it would help train teachers at a time when the unions are "increasingly out of touch with the profession as a whole." Estelle Morris, a former Labour education secretary, last week said arguments for a Royal College are "compelling" and "fast becoming essential to the next stage of school improvement."