Parliament’s guides sacked in ‘diversity’ purge
MILD-MANNERED, studious and often retired, the part-time guides who show tourists around the Palace of Westminster make unlikely rebels.
But, I can reveal, the 150 official Blue Badge guides are in uproar after being informed that they are shortly to be given their marching orders — because, they believe, they are too white.
‘ We are being unceremoniously thrown out in the name of diversity,’ one guide tells me. ‘We are not diverse enough, apparently.’
Indeed, MPs on the Houses of Parliament administration committee have decided to replace them in October with 28 visitor assistants, who will receive just six weeks’ training and be given a script to learn.
‘We are proud to establish a diverse and highly skilled team of directly employed guides to engage and inform Parliament’s visitors,’ proclaim the MPs.
Jeff Chalker, 64, who speaks German and is a qualified Blue Badge holder, has been a guide at Westminster for five years. ‘We are being replaced by youngsters who will earn £21,000 a year, probably won’t speak more than one language and will be learning from a script,’ he tells me.
‘We do tend to be older — about 50. A lot have had careers. Mainly female, lots of different nationalities, but predominantly white.’
The Blue Badge guides are freelance and earn £278 a day — their pay coming from sales of entrance tickets, which cost £25.50.
Their departure in the autumn has been likened to the ravens leaving the Tower of London. ‘It will be a very sad day,’ says Mark King, chairman of the British Guild of Tourist Guides.
‘Visitors will be the worse off, too. Highly trained guides bring London and Britain to life, expertly engaging visitors of all backgrounds and ages in our nation’s story.’
The decision has led to complaints by 40 MPs and peers. A Parliamentary spokesman insists: ‘Bringing our tour guides in-house will end the use of casual working arrangements and create 28 substantive new jobs with full employment benefits.
‘It will save public money and ensure we continue to offer the public high-quality and informative tours of the Houses of Parliament.’