Things can solely worsen, as Musk-Trumpery continues to invade British politics. The outrageous smears and falsehoods – Elon Musk posted 200 occasions on X about “grooming gangs” in three days – included the declare that Keir Starmer is “hiding terrible things”.
The period when the Conservatives have been capable of cross themselves off because the “respectable” get together is totally gone, banished together with its remaining upholders – former MPs comparable to Dominic Grieve and David Gauke. Again then, the ketamine-addled ravings of a overseas mega-billionaire may need been politely sidestepped, not eagerly echoed by the Tory chief who has now accused the prime minister of refusing one other inquiry into sexual abuse gangs as a result of he “doesn’t want questions asked of Labour politicians who may be complicit”. Keep in mind, Kemi Badenoch final yr referred to as herself a “huge fan” of Musk. The factcheck-free world of Meta, Musk, Donald Trump and Nigel Farage is now the language of British Conservatism.
Intoxicated by the joys of conspiracy-think, Tories have forgotten that the majority voters nonetheless count on primary decency from politicians: regardless of having the bottom expectations of the political class, they’ll nonetheless be shocked. Labour is treating the incoming US regime with cautious diplomacy, understandably, however the mantle of patriotism nonetheless falls on this authorities to defend the nation’s political independence from the invasion of the alien anti-democrats embraced by Badenoch.
The Tories’ try to make use of the horrific sexual abuse of so many ladies as a weapon to derail the youngsters’s wellbeing and colleges invoice was maybe a brand new low. The invoice might save these many at-risk “ghost children” vanishing from colleges – it’s going to create a register of not attending. Academics are powerless when dad and mom, typically threatened with non-attendance fines, withdraw youngsters for unbelievable “home schooling”.
Plans for precisely such a register have been drawn up beneath Labour final time, however David Cameron refused to let it cross because the 2010 election squeezed the time accessible: he by no means reinstated it. As an alternative, the proper rubbished the kid register as “nanny state” interference with household life. Charities, such because the Youngsters’s Society and Household Motion, referred to as for it however have been ignored.
Badenoch and Robert Jenrick demanding yet one more inquiry was contemptible, and prone to be seen as such by most individuals. The BBC’s Nick Robinson skewered Jenrick by stating he had by no means, ever, spoken about this subject within the Commons. Starmer politely identified that in eight years, for intervals of which she was youngsters’s minister and minister for ladies and equalities, Badenoch spoke not a phrase in the home on it – nor had their authorities applied any of the 20 suggestions from the Alexis Jay report, which took heart-rending proof from courageous survivors. Badenoch’s spokesperson admitted she had not met any survivors of sexual violence and grooming gangs.
Would possibly the Conservatives’ sudden surge of newfound pity overflow into remorse for the results on youngsters of austerity? These are the details: the harshest profit cuts left 30% of kids poor; a 3rd dwelling in typically squalid non-public leases; 700,000 youngsters in England in colleges that want rebuilding; and the kid loss of life price up by 8%. Faculties are so bereft that the Institute for Fiscal Research finds Labour’s real-terms enhance in funding for pupils in England not covers rising prices. Badenoch’s get together was definitely “complicit” on this youngsters’s legacy.
The invoice from the training secretary, Bridget Phillipson, begins the restore work. Her breakfast golf equipment, which can be rolled out in English major colleges from April, have a demonstrable impact on progress. Chopping the price of uniforms will assist poor households who’re deterred from selecting colleges with too many pricey gadgets. The Tories declare she is dismantling academies: not so – although they misrepresent the proof in claiming academies do higher. They are saying academy lecturers’ pay will fall – which Phillipson rebuts. In the event that they have been concerned about details on the bottom, they might embarrass the federal government by standing up for sixth-form school lecturers who are actually on strike, unjustly disregarded of the pay rise for colleges, harming the very cohort of kids most affected by Covid.
As an alternative, the Tories accuse Phillipson of “a desire for uniformity, and spite”. Her invoice offers councils again the facility to make sure honest admissions, putting particular wants youngsters pretty and opening new colleges the place wanted. (Free colleges have been typically in overprovided areas.) She focuses on early years, the place each pound spent yields probably the most advantages in later life Primaries with spare house are bidding now to open new nurseries.
The assaults on her have been extraordinary. The curriculum overview beneath means by Prof Becky Francis is being slaughtered earlier than she places pen to paper, because the wildest submissions to her are reported as in the event that they have been authorities coverage: change “middle-class” museum and theatre visits with graffiti workshops, goes one fable. The remit of this overview ought to be certain that arts and sports activities misplaced within the Michael Gove “Gradgrind” curriculum that alienates so many youngsters from college altogether.
Observe how girls within the cupboard get achieved over in methods the boys don’t. However Phillipson will get the worst pasting: abolishing the VAT subsidy for personal colleges causes mass “class war” hysteria in Tory ranks and newsrooms. Tales of parental hardship emerge devoid of those statistics: 6% of kids go non-public and simply 6% of these might transfer to state colleges. As for closures, 3% of personal colleges shut yearly – 1,000 since 2000. Charges hold hovering – 75% up since 2000 – as they compete in enticing arts and sports activities amenities. Personal schoolchildren get 90% extra spent on them than state pupils. The £1.7bn saved will rent extra lecturers for the opposite 94%.
How surprising that this invoice ought to be the springboard for the Tories’ nice leap into the wild realms of Musk-think.
