Gavin Williamson’s knighthood, announced by Downing Street on Thursday, has been condemned by opposition parties as a reward for failure, given the widespread criticism of his record as education secretary and mishaps in other roles. Here are some notable moments of his public ignominy.
A-levels fiasco
No one doubted that replacing exam marks with an alternative method of grading A-level students amid the Covid crisis in 2020 would be difficult. But Williamson was vilified, first for ignoring warnings that it would be a problem, and then, once the obviously unfair marks were in, for standing by the controversial combination of computer algorithm and teacher assessments. There was, inevitably, a U-turn 48 hours later, but by then much of the damage – both to students’ university chances and public confidence – had already been done.
Schools and Covid
There is an argument that many of the main decisions regarding school closures and catch-up attempts were largely made in Downing Street. But teaching unions had little confidence in Williamson and his department over many associated issues, such as providing laptops and other technology to pupils who needed them, and helping schools become more Covid-secure once they reopened.
Free school meals – and not meeting Marcus Rashford
Again, it was arguably the fault of Boris Johnson that the government twice held out against calls to extend free school meals or meal vouchers for poorer children into holidays, only to subsequently back down under PR pressure from Rashford, the Manchester United footballer and anti-poverty campaigner. However, it was Williamson’s department that was in charge. And it was very much Williamson’s fault when he told a newspaper he had held a Zoom meeting with Rashford, when in fact he had met a completely different black sportsman, the rugby player Maro Itoje.
Sacked for leaking
In another situation that would have permanently sunk the career of almost any other politician, Williamson was sacked as defence secretary in 2019 by the then prime minister, Theresa May, who had brought him into the cabinet, initially as chief whip. May said she had seen “compelling” evidence that Williamson leaked information from a meeting of the highly sensitive national security council about the involvement of the Chinese telecoms firm Huawei in the UK’s 5G network. Williamson conceded he had talked to the media, but denied that he had discussed anything about the meeting.
‘Russia should go away and shut up’
It is fair to say that, before his sacking, some had worried that Williamson lacked the necessary gravitas to be defence secretary. This impression crystallised in March 2018 during a question-and-answer session after a speech in Bristol. Asked about the expulsion of Russian intelligence staff from the UK after the Salisbury nerve agent attack, Williamson condemned Russian actions before saying: “Frankly, Russia should go away and should shut up.”
