“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 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."
“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.
As a former trade union rep in the DSS/DWP, I can confirm that a public outburst using such language would have certainly led to one of my members facing serious disciplinary action for bringing the Department into disrepute.
ReplyDeleteWhile my members weren't on TV, if - for instance - a staff member had shouted abuse involving bad language across our public waiting room in front of our clients, in an extreme case it could lead to dismissal. If considered to be not quite serious enough to merit dismissal, the member of staff concerned would be placed on an absolutely final warning, which would mean even the most minor infringement of any kind would result in the sack.
It is symptomatic of the extreme sense of entitlement that members of this government have that she thinks an apology - with provisos blaming the interviewer, which means it wasn't a sincere apology at all - is enough to let her off the hook.
Yet another incident to add to the huge catalogue of examples of one rule for us and none for them.
How right you are, Nev. Mrs Keegan remains in her ministerial post and has not been censured for her foul language in public. She is now on record as saying that children prefer being taught in portable classrooms to being taught in school buildings. It seems she has visited just one portable classroom. Logic, it seems, is not required of Conservative education ministers. It would be difficult to conceive of how this government could bring itself into any further disrepute - but there's time yet.
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