ANDREW PIERCE: Schools head dunce is proud of his new title
After the Department for Education’s shambolic handling of this year’s A-levels results, there are growing question marks over the future of Jonathan Slater, the DfE’s most senior civil servant.
Slater was already under fire over the miserable failure to organise an orderly return to school for millions of children before the end of the summer term. The A-levels debacle may be the final straw.
Yet Slater remains proud of at least one aspect of his chequered career: last year he became Stonewall’s ‘Senior Champion of the Year’ for promoting inclusivity for lesbian, gay, bi- and trans people.
Jonathan Slater was already under fire over the miserable failure to organise an orderly return to school for millions of children before the end of the summer term
He championed the introduction of ‘gender neutral’ toilets in his department’s Coventry, London and Nottingham offices.
But his crowning glory is the addition of a new prefix to the organisation’s HR directory — ‘Mx’ now stands alongside Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms.
Mx? Apparently, It’s the term favoured by people who do not wish to use a title that identifies them as male or female.
Many Tory MPs believe it’s another example of Slater going too far in his efforts to please the trans lobby.
Slater was already under fire over the miserable failure to organise an orderly return to school for millions of children before the end of the summer term. The A-levels debacle may be the final straw. Students are pictured above in London protesting over the fiasco on Saturday
Only last month The Day, a children’s website endorsed by Slater’s officials, apologised to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling after suggesting a boycott of her books.
The website suggested she was anti-trans after taking issue with the use of the phrase ‘people who menstruate’ instead of women, and even went so far as to compare her to the 19th century composer Richard Wagner who was praised by the Nazis for his anti-Semitism.
One senior government figure said: ‘I’d rather the Permanent Secretary got awards for opening schools on time and marking exams properly rather than indulging a tiny minority.’ Quite.
Will Corbyn break his vows?
After all the criticism Labour has deservedly been subjected to over anti-Semitism, you would think the party would be treading very carefully around the issue. Not a bit of it.
A branch of Islington North Labour Party is demanding the international definition of anti-Semitism — which Jeremy Corbyn reluctantly signed up to as Labour leader — should be abolished along with the Ten Pledges signed with the Jewish Board of Deputies. Who is the MP for Islington North? Jeremy Corbyn, of course.
Quote of the week: Sean Kemp, a former adviser to ex-Lib Dem leader Sir Nick Clegg, who was deputy PM in David Cameron’s coalition government, said: ‘Entire geological ages have taken less time than the Lib Dem leadership contest.’
Tory Sports Minister Tracey Crouch was thrilled to receive a parliamentary deckchair — emblazoned with the words ‘Summer recess’ — for her 45th birthday. But is it a safe seat?
Top managers at Public Health England, which was scrapped last week after presiding over a string of blunders relating to testing and PPE procurement at the height of the Covid crisis, certainly made hay while the sun shone.
Six were on total packages of more than £200,000-a year — far more than the Prime Minister’s £154,000 salary.
They comprised Michael Brodie, finance and commercial director, who was on £215,000; Paul Cosford, emeritus medical director, £225,000; Yvonne Doyle, health protection director, £260,000; Paul Johnstone, regional director, £205,000; Adrian Masters, director of strategy, £250,000; and Rashmi Shukla, national director regions and places, £235,000.
So much for value for money.
Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark is clearly in demand. Last week, she presented the BBC2 documentary The Trial Of Alex Salmond.
Later this year, she will front a four-part series, Becoming Scotland, for the BBC, ‘the first definitive history of modern Scotland’.
Both titles were produced by the Glasgow company Two Rivers, which is run by Alan Clements, who just so happens to be Wark’s husband.
Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark is clearly in demand. Last week, she presented the BBC2 documentary The Trial Of Alex Salmond. She is pictured above in 2018
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