Gillian Keegan and Setting an Example

 

It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that when it comes to misbehaviour, there is one rule for Tory MPs and another for the rest of us. It's not the first time that I've raised this issue, and I know that major media pundits have written about it, but Michelle Keegan's recent outburst in which she used the F-word has angered me considerably. Apologies to readers who might have seen my comments on Facebook, but I think this matter important enough to comment further. Mrs Keegan, our present Education Secretary, was interviewed by ITV News reporter Daniel Hewitt about the RAAC crisis on Monday last week. After the interview finished, while her microphone was still on and the camera was still rolling, she uttered these beautiful words:

 “Does anyone ever say: ‘You know what, you’ve done a f**king good job, because everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing?’ No signs of that, no?”

Ms Keegan apologised later, saying she made an “off-the-cuff remark after the news interview had finished”.  Alex Finnis, in the "i" paper, went on to say:

"She (Ms Keegan) said the comment about people being “sat on their arses” had been aimed at “nobody in particular”.
She added: “I would like to apologise for my choice of language. That was unnecessary.”
Ms Keegan said she had been irritated by the reporter’s questions. “He was making out it was all my fault,” she said."

The Education Secretary's comments offended a great many school staff, throughout the whole state sector. The implication that "everyone" sat on their backsides, despite Ms Keegan's denial, was undoubtedly a swipe at school authorities and all school staff. One Headteacher, Caroline Evans, of Parks Primary School in Leicester, expressed her anger on Sky News (click to watch). Ms Evans expressed her horror at Keegan's foul language and told of how she and her staff were working very long hours to deal with the disruption to school life that RAAC had brought to her school. The BBC elaborates:

"Parks Primary, in New Parks Crescent, Leicester, was forced to relocate several classes and borrow rooms from other institutions following the discovery in May of RAAC.
Cas Evans, head teacher, estimated the cost of the disruption so far, including getting new toilet blocks for her pupils, was £30,000."

While totally supporting Cas Evans and all schools facing rebuilding because of dodgy concrete, I think there is another angle to this that hasn't been touched upon. What has not been said is that while Ms Keegan's outburst has been condoned in some quarters of the media, and she has apologised, any teacher who used such language in a school setting would not be treated so leniently. Any teacher or Teaching Assistant using bad language in front of children - and was reported to school authorities - would be severely dealt with. Even swearing at colleagues could lead to disciplinary action. I cannot speak for other workplaces where the public is present, but I'm sure that civil servants, NHS staff, bus drivers, bar staff, shop workers, etc,  would receive similar punitive measures, even possibly losing their jobs.

As far as I know, Ms Keegan has not been sanctioned and remains in her post. All school staff can now see for themselves that there is one rule for Tory ministers and another for them.

Another unforeseen consequence of Ms Keegan's outburst could well affect secondary school teachers. Contrary to what many believe, older children do watch the TV news and some will regard Ms Keegan's foul language as an example to be followed. Secondary teachers, seeking to reprimand pupils for using bad language could well face the retort:

"Your boss - that Keegan woman - said F--- and got away with it. Why can't we?"

But there is yet another angle for consideration. This present government has a reputation for sleaze. Wales Online lists twenty two examples of this -from the last three years. The article is a useful short reminder of incidents that the government would like us to forget about. There is Partygate, Chris Pincher, the elevation to peerage of Evgeny Lebedev, son of a KGB agent, and many more. The Labour Party in Parliament, reported by the Independent, recently raised another matter that relates to Gillian Keegan: 

"Education secretary Gillian Keegan has “serious questions to answer”, said Labour, after it emerged that a company linked to her husband was handed a £1m contract from a schools rebuilding fund.The cabinet minister’s husband Michael Keegan states on his LinkedIn social media page that he is a non-executive director at technology firm Centerprise.
The company was one of six suppliers awarded IT contracts earlier this year to replace server infrastructure at schools, with the money coming from the school rebuilding programme (SRP) fund, according to the Daily Mirror."

The Department for Education (DfE) said neither Ms Keegan or any other minister was involved in the procurement process for these contracts. Shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, rightly pointed out, the DfE denial notwithstanding, that the optics are not good for the government (or Ms Keegan).

“This appears to be a gross conflict of interest, and eyebrows will be raised that the Keegans appear to have gained from a shrinking pot of school rebuilding money,” said Ms Phillipson.

 Wales Online might yet have another example of sleaze to write about...

From the front page of Private Eye magazine.

“UNKNOWN TO THE EMPEROR” – FOUR YEARS IN HELL

 

Many years ago, I read “The Naked Island” by the Australian writer, Russell Braddon. It was first published in 1953, and told of Braddon’s experience as a prisoner of war of the Japanese military in WW2. Captured after the fall of Singapore in 1942, Braddon, together with thousands of British, Australian and Empire troops, was sent to labour on what some call the “Siam-Burma Railway”, designed to supply the Japanese troops fighting in Burma. For Braddon and his comrades, it became better known as the “Death Railway”, along which thousands of POWs and conscripted civilians suffered and died at the hands of their captors. The atrocities described I found unforgettable.

Years later, I have read “Unknown to the Emperor”, by J. R. Hill (“Jim”) , published in 1998. Like Braddon, Jim was taken prisoner in Singapore when it capitulated. He too, was sent to labour and suffer on the Death Railway. Unlike Braddon, Jim was later sent to Japan, where he was liberated after the Japanese surrender. Again, like Braddon, the atrocities, and other experiences described, are unforgettable and chilling to read about. Both books, however, are tributes to the human spirit facing adversity; both are searing indictments of their Japanese captors.

A Territorial Army soldier from Scotland, 18 years of age, Jim was shipped out to Singapore in 1941. When Japan invaded the Malay Peninsula, he witnessed, as a participant, the ignominious defeat of British forces. Jim, rightly, explains:

“We were not…trained for jungle warfare and this was realised by men of all ranks”.

In fairness to the much-derided military commanders at Singapore, they were under-resourced. Nevertheless, surrender began the captivity of Jim and many others.

Japanese brutality to POWs in WW2 is well known, but Jim’s accounts of his suffering and that of his comrades at the hands of their guards still have the power to shock. Beatings and torture were a daily routine. Jim quotes Dostoevsky who said, “…”suffering purifies everything” and without doubt we were purer than the pure”.

Jim provides an abundance of examples of Japanese viciousness, which lasted from the moment of his capture, to (almost) liberation. One example will suffice:

“…the Japanese would get prisoners to form a line and proceed to beat each man. God help the man who ducked or fell”.

Besides facing beatings himself, Jim endured repeated bouts of dysentery and malaria at frequent intervals during his captivity. He also, unsurprisingly, experienced the loss of comrades. One touching instance happened after he learned of the death of a friend. Bob Rogers, in another camp:

“I made my way to the edge of the camp and stood looking towards…I thanked Bob for his friendship and asked his forgiveness if I did not dwell on his death. You can only carry so much grief if you want to live…” Luckily for himself, Jim had good personal survival skills. He provides many examples of men who did not. He says: “Some men found great difficulty in shaking off depression…However…morale was higher than there was reason to expect. Every group or company of men had a priceless idiot who somehow found it within himself to raise a smile or laugh in others”.

For some indeterminate reason, Jim and many other POWs were shipped to Japan. Jim sailed on the 18th August, 1944, on an overcrowded ship which ran aground off the coast of Taiwan. Jim was rescued by a Japanese lifeboat, for which he received a gratuitous blow from his rescuer. Many POWs did not survive these voyages.

Japan brought more of the same suffering as that experienced on the Death Railway – but this time with some hope, brought about by US air raids, as the Allies drew closer, liberating occupied islands and nearing the Japanese mainland. Japanese guards grew a little less brutal in the summer of 1945. Jim says here:

“Little did we realise that not so very far away atomic bombs had been dropped on the 6th August…On 12th August all the existing guards were replaced by new faces”.

Understandably, freedom led to the newly released POWs taking some revenge on their captors. Jim himself chased after a civilian who had previously given him a beating. On September 5th, as the POWs awaited a train to freedom, a brutal civilian guard was spotted among a crowd of spectators. Jim says:“A big American broke ranks, clenched his fist and felled the Japanese with one blow.”Despite the understandable bursts of anger shown by Jim and his American fellow-POW, Jim, to his credit, was capable of pity for the suffering of Japanese victims of Allied air raids. Jim again:“Like us, they were victims of the futility and stupidity of war…No great wave of joy flooded my heart, nor did hatred. In some ways we were compatible…”.

Jim arrived home, via Canada, where he met up with relatives, on November 25th, 1945, five years after he sailed for Singapore. Almost 25, he returned from what he described as an abnormal life to a normal existence and, like many other returning POWs of many wars, found it difficult. Happily, Jim married and raised a family of three children. One of his sons, Ian, sent me a copy of his father’s book, elaborating on Jim’s view on the atomic bombings and the Japanese people in general. Ian says:

“…my father and those with him were about to be machine-gunned to death and thrown into trenches they had dug themselves. Their lives were saved by saved by the nuclear bomb, as were the lives of their unborn children”.

This raises a very valid, if not always popular point that I shall explore further one day. Ian continues: “”…I have been to Japan and visited Osaka where my father was held. The people are lovely. I hold no ill feeling for what was done to my father and neither did he”. But the concluding comment belongs to Jim: “Until one has experienced the bad things in life it is difficult, if not impossible, to appreciate the good. Every day is a bonus.”

16, 000 prisoners of war died building the Siam-Burma Railway. (Source: National Museum of Australia).

Numbers of deaths among Southeast Asian civilians pressed into service vary, the lowest being 90, 000. Wikipedia says: " The total number of rōmusha (SE Asian slave workers) working on the railway may have reached 300,000 and according to some estimates, the death rate among them was as high as 50 percent."

In the Year 2000, the Japanese government agreed to pay compensation to British POWs - most of whom had already died. SE Asian survivors (romusha) of the Death Railway received nothing.