Schools head dunce is proud of his new title

After the Department for education’s shambolic handling of this year’s A-levels results, there are growing question marks over the future of Jonathan Slater, the Dfe’s most senior civil servant.

Slater was already under fire over the miserable failure to organise an orderly return to school for millions of children before the end of the summer term. the A-levels debacle may be the final straw.

Yet Slater remains proud of at least one aspect of his chequered career: last year he became Stonewall’s ‘Senior Champion of the Year’ for promoting inclusivity for lesbian, gay, bi- and trans people.

He championed the introduction of ‘gender neutral’ toilets in his department’s Coventry, London and Nottingham offices.

But his crowning glory is the addition of a new prefix to the organisation’s Hr directory — ‘Mx’ now stands alongside Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms.

Mx? Apparently, It’s the term favoured by people who do not wish to use a title that identifies them as male or female.

Many tory MPs believe it’s another example of Slater going too far in his efforts to please the trans lobby. Only last month the Day, a children’s website endorsed by Slater’s officials, apologised to Harry Potter author J.K. rowling after suggesting a boycott of her books.

the website suggested she was anti-trans after taking issue with the use of the phrase ‘people who menstruate’ instead of women, and even went so far as to compare her to the 19th century composer richard Wagner who was praised by the Nazis for his anti-Semitism.

One senior government figure said: ‘I’d rather the Permanent Secretary got awards for opening schools on time and marking exams properly rather than indulging a tiny minority.’ Quite.