Cameron crony’s schools rant gives Trump excuse to put profit before pupils

Ex-PM’s adviser pushes for children to essentially become guinea pigs by forcing them back into class. It’s a message Trump seizes on as his economy tanks

LONG before the rule maker turned rule breaker – Dominic Cummings’ betrayal of the British public – a Downing Street predecessor sparked equal dismay within the corridors of power.

While acting as David Cameron’s closest political aide, Steve Hilton was at the centre of as much consternation among MPs and civil servants as Boris Johnson’s man is now.

It wasn’t only their politics the two advisors shared – both would rock up to Number 10 dressed like they were dossing around their own homes on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

As hypocrite Cummings fights for his career following his unforgivable Durham dash during the Covid lockdown, Hilton is now over here peddling his thoughts on his own Fox News Sunday night show.

The channel has often been called Donald Trump’s propaganda machine, such is its bias towards the President.

So it was only a matter of time before David Cameron’s dear friend, one so close to the then PM that Michael Gove said of him “It’s impossible to know where Steve ends, and David begins,” appeared on the US leader’s radar.

When Hilton called for American schools to be reopened, saying students don’t spread the virus and that they are “more likely to die crossing the street”, it played straight into Trump’s hands.

“Schools in our country should be opened ASAP. Much very good information now available,” he tweeted as he tagged the Brit in his post.

Hours earlier, on his The Next Revolution programme, Hilton had pandered to Trump’s drive to open up

America despite thousands here still dying.

“Get on with it and reopen schools now before you do even more needless damage,” blasted Cameron’s ex crony.

“Can children infect others? We’re constantly told to follow the science and the data, well, here it is.

“One study found quote, even if children do get infected, they are less likely to transmit the disease to others than adults. We have not found a single instance of a child infecting parents.”

Steve Hilton’s words were music to Trump’s ears as he takes a hit in the election polls

The drive to reopen the schools here is very similar to the one in the UK, with people asking how can a country get back to work if parents are needed to look after children at home?

It is only natural that after two months of social distancing, fatigue has set in, especially among parents having to shelve their work responsibilities while taking over the role of their children’s teachers.

Schools have made valiant efforts in trying to help educate kids while under lockdown but such methods cannot replace the educational, social and emotional benefits of the classroom.

But while parents want nothing more than to see their children back among their friends and teachers, no one wants to put them or their families in harm’s way.

The reality is that huge gaps still exist in our knowledge about Covid-19.

With children having been locked down for so long, no one, including Trump or Johnson, knows with any degree of confidence, what levels of risk children with pre-existing conditions may face in school.

Neither do we know if otherwise healthy kids who have the virus but are asymptomatic can pass it on to teachers and their families once class resumes.

While Hilton is correct in saying we know healthy children don’t get severely sick as often, important questions remain, including how safe is it for adults who have underlying health conditions to send their children back to school without fear of the kids becoming infected and spreading the virus to others in the family.

It is why one in five teachers here say they are unlikely to go back this year.

To make decisions about school reopenings, more homework needs to be done and soon.

Do we really want to place so many kids at risk without learning the facts first? It is a lesson Trump appears unprepared to take if it means getting his only hope of re-election – the economy – back on track.

With children having been locked down for so long, no one, including Trump or Johnson, knows with any... confidence, what levels of risk children with pre-existing conditions may face in school.