Last chance saloon for ‘useful idiot’ Williamson

After the exams fiasco, the all-important challenge for the Education Secretary is the start of the new term

MINISTERS believe Gavin Williamson has one “last chance” to save his Cabinet career by ensuring schools reopen next week.

The Education Secretary is committed to doing “everything necessary” to ensure pupils are back in the classroom in nine days’ time, after clinging on to his post in the wake of the A-level and GCSE exams fiasco.

However The Sunday Telegraph can disclose that his task is likely to be made harder by union leaders, one of whom revealed they deliberately refrained from calling for his resignation because “when your enemies make a mistake, why interrupt them”. “We had a meeting with another union, and we’re in complete agreement. We don’t want him to go because he’s a very useful idiot for us,” they told The Sunday Telegraph. “We don’t want him to be sacked.”

While the unions currently back the plan for full school reopenings in September, their opposition to all pupils returning in July was considered integral to ministers being forced to shelve their original plans.

Their private calculations are now likely to fuel fresh concern within No10 as to whether they can be kept on side, should the Covid-19 infection rate accelerate again in the coming weeks.

No10 insists that Boris Johnson maintains full confidence in Mr Williamson. Hitting back last night, a Government source said: “Getting all children back to school at the start of term is a national priority. That’s what the unions should be focused on rather than playing political games.”

Mr Johnson’s decision to take a personal role in the drive to get children back to school by conducting a school visit this week has been welcomed by senior Tory MPs, who believe that widespread anger at Mr Williamson has left him unable to lead the drive.

“Boris needs to lead this, because Gavin is so badly damaged,” one said last night. “Boris has got the charisma and wherewithal that is needed to make sure this goes smoothly.”

However, a senior Cabinet minister said of Mr Williamson: “I think schools reopening is his last chance.”

Others believe that the Education Secretary is already living on borrowed time and suggest that he is now likely to be moved to another department in a reshuffle early next year.

Last night, it was reported that Mr Williamson had cancelled a meeting to go on holiday the week before A-level results were due to be released.

According to The Sunday Times, three officials have claimed that he was away in the week beginning Aug 3 in the seaside town of Scarborough, where he has family.

A Whitehall source told the paper it was “surprising” that Mr Williamson was “missing in action”. But senior Government sources insisted he had taken part in Zoom calls with the Prime Minister and other ministers while he was away and had been working.

Graham Brady, the chairman of the powerful 1922 committee of Tory backbench MPs, along with members of its executive, are said to be deeply concerned that the Government has been badly damaged by the exams debacle.

“My colleagues and I are very annoyed to put it mildly about the position we are in,” a senior 1922 source said.

“If reopening of schools doesn’t go well, then I’d be amazed if he lasted longer than a week. He’s well versed in the intrigue of Parliament, so he will know his days are numbered.”

There is also ongoing speculation over the future of the exams regulator, Ofqual, which has been criticised over the algorithm used to calculate students’ grades. While No10 and Whitehall sources insist there are no plans to axe the watchdog, in the long-term, many believe it inevitable that ministers will seek to make it more directly accountable to the Education Secretary. “More accountability is never a bad thing,” one added.

‘Boris needs to lead this, because Gavin is so badly damaged. Boris has got the charisma and wherewithal’