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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Sally Weale Education correspondent

Teachers say Gavin Williamson pandemic texts reveal ‘secret contempt’

Gavin Williamson Matt Hancock Pandemic Covid-19 Geoff Barton Department for Education
Gavin Williamson
Messages leaked to the Telegraph appear to show Gavin Williamson accusing teachers of looking for an ‘excuse’ not to teach. Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

Teaching unions have reacted with fury to leaked texts sent by the former education secretary Gavin Williamson at the height of the Covid pandemic, saying they reveal the UK government’s “secret contempt for teachers”.

Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the exchange between Williamson and the then health secretary, Matt Hancock, exposed “the chaos and duplicity at the heart of government”.

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