Minister humiliated over U-turn
GAVIN Williamson is fighting for his job after the Government made an astonishing U-turn on exams.
Just days after claiming there would be ‘no U-turn, no change’, the Education Secretary scrapped the controversial algorithm system for A-level and GCSE results.
Teachers’ predicted grades will instead be used to mark pupils who could not sit their exams because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It comes a week after Scottish Education Secretary John Swinney made a similar U-turn on exam results.
GAVIN Williamson was dubbed a ‘lame duck’ Education Secretary yesterday as ex-ministers urged him to step down.
Tory MPs turned on the former chief whip, saying he would have to go in the rumoured reshuffle of the UK Cabinet.
Ex-minister and Winston Churchill’s grandson Nicholas Soames described him as ‘completely unreliable and very stupid’ and called for him to go.
Boris Johnson was also accused of ‘hiding’ on his holiday in Scotland and Tory politicians urged him to send a message of reassurance to the public and to ‘own this mess’.
It came days after SNP Education Secretary John Swinney managed to hold on to his job after surviving a vote of no confidence over Scotland’s own
‘He is completely unreliable’
exam results fiasco. He was accused of refusing to acknowledge ‘repeated warnings’ over the moderation process used by the Scottish Qualifications Authority which led to thousands of pupils seeing their results downgraded.
A poll has showed that the public think Mr Williamson should resign over the exams fiasco by a proportion of two to one. The snap YouGov poll yesterday found that 40 per cent thought the Education Secretary should resign, as opposed to 21 per cent who thought he should remain.
Most – 75 per cent – think the UK Government has handled the A-Level and GCSE results badly – including 69 per cent of Tory voters.
Tory whips contacted MPs early yesterday morning to tip them off that a U-turn was coming, and to ask them to hold back as anger mounted.
English exam regulator Ofqual said that A-level and GCSE results will now be based on teachers’ assessments of their students, unless the grades produced by the controversial algorithm are higher. Thousands of pupils were downgraded under the algorithm devised by Ofqual.
Senior Conservatives urged Mr Williamson to step down.
Tory MP and former minister George Freeman hinted that Mr Williamson’s job might be on the line in an autumn Cabinet reshuffle. Describing the fiasco as a ‘total shambles’, he said: ‘Ultimately, the Prime Minister is in charge.
‘I think he will want to take firm control of this and get a grip and show that his government is taking the life chances of a generation of children seriously.
‘I’m told the he is planning to reshuffle in the autumn, and I dare say he wants to take everything into account.’
Meanwhile, former Tory minister Nick Boles tweeted: ‘Johnson will force Williamson to U-turn on A levels. But he won’t get rid him just yet.
‘He needs him to take the rap for GCSE results and any chaos that arises when schools re-open. But there will be a new Education Secretary this autumn.’
Mr Soames tweeted: ‘The thing you must understand [is] he is completely unreliable and very stupid.’
One former minister said: ‘Gavin Williamson’s position is completely untenable.
‘He has to go and go now – he can’t hang around until autumn. He is a lame duck.
‘This is tone-deafness yet again. The Prime Minister normally reads the public’s mood brilliantly, but over this he’s been tone-deaf. They’re just not getting it.’
The former minister said Mr Johnson should intervene to reassure the public, and added: ‘It’s all very well to go camping in Scotland, very sustainable and all that.
‘But come back and own this mess. Go to the nearest television studio and say: “I’m going to sort this out”.
‘He has hidden and allowed Gavin to carry the can.’
Another former minister said: ‘Williamson absolutely needs to go. The Prime Minister has got to get a grip. This has been coming for so long. We’ve had four months to prepare for this.
‘Because Boris has allowed this to happen, there will understandably be calls for him to return from holiday.’
Bookmaker Coral has made Mr Williamson the clear 2-1 favourite to be the next Cabinet minister to lose his role.