GAVIN THE GAFFE
RASHFORD MOCKS EDUCATION SECRETARY FOR CONFUSING HIM WITH RUGBY’S ITOJE
GAFFE-PRONE education secretary Gavin Williamson has shot himself in the foot yet again – confusing school meal-campaigning soccer star Marcus Rashford with Old Harrovian rugby player Maro Itoje. Mr Williamson – who has never met the England striker despite performing an embarrassing U-turn because of his campaign – told an interviewer how they had chatted on Zoom.
‘He seemed incredibly engaged, compassionate and charming but then he had to shoot off,’ he enthused. ‘I didn’t want to be the one that was holding him back from his training.’
But moments later aides realised he had mistaken slim 5ft 11in Mancunian Marcus for powerful 6ft 6in London-born Maro, who helped provide 2,000 laptops to disadvantaged
pupils in lockdown. Marcus later tweeted: ‘Accent could have been a giveaway’ – with a laugh emoji. Social media users weighed in with comedy memes while politicians leapt on Mr Williamson’s latest clanger. ‘What was it about Maro Itoje that made you mistake him for Marcus Rashford?’ demanded shadow justice secretary David Lammy.
‘It is depressing that in 2021 one black man – who has reached the pinnacle of his sport and given so much back – is confused so easily with another by the education secretary. ‘You must be the most ignorant, clueless and incapable education secretary in the UK’s history.’ Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said he could ‘barely believe’ the minister did not know the footballer, who won an MBE for his fight to feed schoolkids in holidays during lockdown.
‘What has he been doing for the last year or so?’ he asked.
Mr Williamson said he had ‘huge respect’ for both stars, adding: ‘Towards the end of a wide-ranging interview in which I talked about both the laptops and school meals campaigns, I conflated the issues and made a genuine mistake.’
The minister has been tipped to lose his job in Boris Johnson’s expected reshuffle after criticism of record A-level grade inflation and a widening gap between private and state schools.
Last month, he claimed to have forgotten his own A-level results.
He was accused of sounding like a ‘toddler’ after saying Britain got Covid jabs first because ‘we’re a much better country than every single one of them’.
As defence secretary, he suggested firing paintballs to stop Spanish ships trespassing in Gibraltar’s waters and said ‘frankly Russia should go away and it should shut up,’ after the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury.
But the former fireplace salesman told London’s Evening Standard paper he had the ‘hide of a rhino’.
Maro – an ex-public school pupil and politics graduate who plays for Saracens – later joked: ‘Due to recent speculation I thought it was necessary to confirm I am not Marcus Rashford. Much love, Marcu… I mean Maro Itoje.’
And Marcus’s spokesman pointed out ex-health secretary Matt Hancock once called his client ‘Daniel’, adding: ‘Whether it’s Daniel Rashford or a Maro Itoje reference, the message is the same. Put our children first.’