Knives out for Williamson after back to school f iasco
Liz Truss facing the axe too
GAVIN Williamson’s Cabinet future is in doubt after growing anger on the Tory backbenches over the failure to open schools before the autumn.
The Education Secretary is tipped to be one of the highprofile casualties of Boris Johnson’s next reshuffle, following his humiliating U-turn over the target to get all primary school pupils back in the classroom before the summer holidays.
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss is also on the Prime Minister’s hit- list following rows over the terms of a new trade deal with America.
Cabinet rivals have accused her of being prepared to allow cheap, sub-standard products such as chlorinated chicken to flood the UK market and hit the British farming industry.
Ms Truss’s allies angrily deny the claims. But her career prospects are unlikely to be helped by the fact she is understood to be on the opposite side of the argument from Mr Johnson’s fiancee Carrie Symonds – an animal welfare campaigner.
Mr Williamson infuriated overstretched parents when he said full-time schooling for all pupils would not now resume before September. The former Defence Secretary – famous for keeping a pet tarantula in his office when he was Chief Whip – has looked a far more subdued figure since taking on the education portfolio.
Last night, former Cabinet Ministers were privately scathing about Mr Williamson for giving the impression that Leftwing teaching unions were somehow dictating when schools returned. One said: ‘Gavin was a very good Chief
Whip but he was far better being in the shadows in that role than on the front line, galvanising the campaign to get the schools back. He should have been talking to the academies which are not under council control.’ Another exCabinet Minister pointed the blame at Mr Johnson for wanting a ‘Cabinet of short poppies where the Ministers just don’t challenge the PM’.
Allies of Mr Williamson dismissed the attacks as ‘ nonsense’ and pointed to a Number 10 announcement on how he and Mr Johnson were working together to let children catch up on lost lessons during the summer and open all schools in September. There are also new plans to open primary schools t o additional year groups from this week.
The mooted reshuffle could come sooner than the expected time at the end of July – just before summer recess – if Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick is forced to resign over the row about his approval for a Tory donor’s property scheme.
The expected ministerial changes are being dubbed the ‘ night of the short knives’ because the big four in the Cabinet – Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove – look set to keep their jobs.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has faced criticism over his record on issues such as testing rates, but his position is said to be safe while the Covid crisis continues. A source said: ‘To dump Hancock now would be an admission of failure.’