Crisis? What crisis?
Sharing her holiday snaps from an Alpine chalet while the exams debacle unfolded, the Minister responsible for post-16 education strategy. Gavin Williamson’s response? Liking her Instagram posts
AN EDUCATION Minister was under fire last night for enjoying a holiday in the French Alps while teenagers in Britain went ‘through hell’ over their exam grades.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that as students worried over their futures, Gillian Keegan enjoyed hiking trips, mountain biking and dips in a mountain lake – and boasted about them on Instagram. Astonishingly, beleaguered Education Secretary Gavin Williamson found time to ‘like’ several of her posts.
Mrs Keegan is Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills at the Department for Education and, crucially, is jointly responsible for post-16 education strategy.
But as the exam fiasco reached its climax, she decided to remain in France – even as quarantine restrictions came into effect that would require her to self-isolate for 14 days on her eventual return to the UK.
On August 15, two days after the A- level results in England were released, she wrote on social media: ‘We will have to make the most of it [our holiday] as we will be #quarantined for 14 days when we get back’.
The post was accompanied by an emoji of a woman shrugging.
Despite posting a new message and picture yesterday announcing that she was ‘back to Blighty’, Mrs Keegan did not respond to this newspaper’s requests for comment about her getaway.
However, she now faces the prospect of being unable to attend the Commons i n person when it resumes on September 1 because she may still be in quarantine.
Mr Williamson also declined to comment, with sources saying it was not policy ‘to comment on Ministerial diaries’.
Supporters sprang t o Mrs Keegan’s defence, saying she had not hidden the fact she was away and that fellow Minister Michelle Donelan, who shares duties for post- 16 education strategy, had been on duty. They stressed that Mrs Keegan, a self- professed ‘ proud Scouser’ who is MP for Chichester, had done some work while she was away.
‘She wasn’t just sitting with her feet up all the time,’ one said.
But Labour last night described her conduct as ‘beyond belief – even for this gaffe-prone Government’.
Labour MP Neil Coyle said: ‘Gavin Williamson’s incompetence truly knows no bounds. Young people who have been put through hell over the last few weeks will be disgusted to learn that one of the Ministers involved in this mess has been living it up on holiday in France.
‘But instead of Mr Williamson recognising he needed all hands on deck as this exam disaster loomed, he not only let her swan off on holiday, he even liked her holiday snaps.’
Mr Williamson’s response to the exam crisis has been met with a mixture of ridicule and anger as thousands of teenagers were left devastated when their predicted grades were downgraded, jeopardising their university places, before Ministers were forced into a humiliating U-turn.
Boris Johnson is understood to have rejected Mr Williamson’s offer to resign but the Education Secretary’s decision to allow one of his junior Ministers to be on holiday as crisis deepened raised fresh questions over his judgment.
Mrs Keegan, 52, announced on Instagram on August 6 that she was staying in Courchevel, an Alpine resort popular with the rich and famous. Posting a series of photographs over the following days, she spoke of ‘good vibes’ and even celebrated her rest and relaxation on the very day that A-level results were released.
Mr Williamson ‘ liked’ several of her posts including one on August 6 captioned: ‘ Made it to our happy place for a few days # hiking # biking # wildswimming and whatever adventures we can find to clear the mind.’ But
FAIL! As the exam fiasco hit, Minister Gillian Keegan basked in the sunshine back home, the media was warning of an impending schools crisis following the earlier fiasco over exam grades in Scotland.
Mr Williamson also approved of Mrs Keegan’s post the following day from the 7,500 ft Col de la Loze mountain pass.
As the UK became awash with dire reports that schools were bringing in lawyers to stop results being dramatically reduced, Mrs Keegan posted a picture of a dip in a lake at Le Praz. It was captioned: ‘Another wonderful day.’
Two days later, beside a picture of sun-kissed mountain, she wrote: ‘Wonderful view from our balcony... #goodvibes.’
On August 11, just 48 hours before the A-level crisis peaked, she was enjoying ‘another wonderful day #hiking in the mountains’. Again, Mr Williamson found time to ‘like’ the photograph.
Finally, as A- level results day arrived in England on August 13, Mrs Keegan’s horizon did darken but only because of news that British holidaymakers in France would shortly face two weeks of quarantine when they returned to the UK because of soaring French infection rates. Her post contained an eye-rolling emoji to indicate her frustration, but her photograph depicted smiles and sunglasses
Mrs Keegan decided not to try to get back before the quarantine deadline, apparently with Mr Williamson’s blessing. On August 15, he ‘liked’ her message from the Alps where, with glass in hand, she declared: ‘We will have to make the most of it as we will be #quarantined for 14 days when we get back.’
The Mail on Sunday reported the next day how one distraught Alevel student told Schools Minister Nick Gibb: ‘You’ve ruined my life.’ But Mrs Keegan simply acknowledged that she would have to quarantine on her return with her husband, writing: ‘Good job we like each other’ – another message liked by Mr Williamson
Finally, on Tuesday last week, amid mounting expectation that her boss would now lose his job, the Skills Minister posted about her pizza in Courchevel. Some may now be recommending humble pie.
‘Beyond belief, even for this gaffe-prone lot’