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Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, has admitted he must do better after his blog was found to be littered with spelling mistakes.

The MP, who went to the University of Cambridge and is responsible for raising standards in schools, appears to have problems with basic rules such as "i before e except after c".

In the blog, which appears on his website, Mr Knight discusses national issues and those affecting his constituency, Dorset South. But in one entry about planning consent for a relief road in Weymouth, Mr Knight spells “received” and “archaeological” wrongly.

In another he spells “maintenance” as “maintainence” and in a third he writes “pernsioners” instead of “pensioners.”

Other mistakes appear to be a result of typos and include “foce” for “force”, “convicned” for convinced“ and ”acheiving“ for ”achieving“.

Mr Knight told The Sun newspaper: “When I was at school, the teachers always told me to check my work.

“While my spelling is generally pretty good, I need to focus more on checking."

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