Credit is due to Gillian Keegan for appearing on Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge to address the issues surrounding the crumbling schools fiasco. Despite her earlier four-letter outburst on TV, the education secretary displayed resilience as she faced the uncomfortable clip of her expletive-laden remarks. This uncomfortable moment has drawn comparisons to instances from the TV satire, The Thick of It, where the bumbling Ms. Keegan is likened to the hapless Nicola Murray, constantly stumbling from one PR disaster to another. However, is this comparison fair?
Supporters of Ms. Keegan, who herself left school at 16 and became an apprentice in a car factory, argue that she brings a refreshing perspective to a predominantly Oxbridge-educated Tory cabinet. Conversely, she can be criticized for disregarding Denis Healey’s first law of politics, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.”
The main issue with the school concrete crisis is that it reflects poorly on the government’s competency and undermines any hopes Rishi Sunak had for a strong start to the new year and term. Facing the predictable outrage from opposition MPs and concerns raised by Conservative MPs during a lengthy Commons statement, Ms. Keegan once again defended herself against her critics.
The key accusations against Ms. Keegan are that she should have taken earlier action to address the crumbling schools, failed to keep parents informed about school closures, and that Tory spending cuts are to blame. A significant attack on the government came from a retired Whitehall mandarin, Jonathan Slater, who claimed that school repair spending was halved by Rishi Sunak during his time as Chancellor. This claim was vehemently denied by the Prime Minister.
To be fair, Mr. Slater was dismissed due to another fiasco at the education department—the mishandling of exam grades during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, his perspective may not be entirely unbiased. Nonetheless, his claims were seized upon and echoed by the shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, who described the situation as an “utter shambles.”
While it may be unfair to solely blame Ms. Keegan, it is clear that the situation is indeed a shambles. The Tories have had 10 education secretaries since their rise to power in 2010, and while Ms. Keegan may not bear sole responsibility, her attempt to shift blame onto others has only worsened the situation.