The Daily Telegraph - 22.08.2019

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1

T

his morning, more than half a

million 16-year-olds will be on

tenterhooks as they wait for their

GCSE results. Add in half a million

anxious families who are sharing the

wait and you’ve got a sizeable chunk

of Britain biting their fingernails at

breakfast. Astonishingly, I am only the

second Education Secretary to have

gone to a comprehensive, but I can

tell you, it doesn’t matter what kind of

school you go to, getting your GCSE

results is a big deal.

Today marks the culmination of

years of hard work by not just all

those pupils but their teachers, too.

Not only have they had to prepare

for public exams but they have also

been adapting to new, more rigorous

qualifications. These are part of the

reforms to restore confidence in a

system that had been undermined

by grade inflation. And I’m delighted

that many of those anxious pupils will

be getting good news. The reforms to

the curriculum and qualifications we

began in 2010 are starting to bear fruit.

Provisional data shows entries in the

sciences and computing are rising.

These are the subjects that will be vital

for Britain’s businesses in the future.

I was also pleased to see from these

early indications that the number of

entries to core EBacc subjects is up

on last year. EBacc subjects are the

backbone of any student’s education:

they are valued by parents and are

proven to best equip pupils for further

study or the workplace. Providing an

EBacc curriculum not only helps to

drive up standards, it has also been

shown to support social mobility, with

the potential to transform the lives of

pupils from poorer backgrounds.

The EBacc has been instrumental

in halting the decline in uptake of

modern foreign languages (MFL) at

GCSE, too. Today’s results are expected

to show a rise in the number of MFL

entries, particularly in Spanish and

French. The data also suggest a rise

in arts subjects overall, showing that

schools can combine the EBacc with

a broader academic provision that

enhances a pupil’s education.

We will continue to encourage

take-up in languages and the arts. We

want all pupils to have the chance to

study subjects that are going to set

them up for the future and will stretch

them creatively. Education is not just

about core subjects, although these

are, of course, vitally important. It has

to provide for different talents and

aptitudes, and establish a launchpad

for numerous different careers.

Pupils have a range of post-16 options

to choose from, and many will choose

vocational or technical study. This is an

area in which I have a special interest

and I have taken on this portfolio

myself. Creating a world-class technical

and vocational education system is a

priority because, as Britain prepares to

leave the EU, our economic prosperity

will depend on it.

Our reforms mean that we are

well placed to take advantage of

the opportunities that lie ahead:

apprenticeships are flourishing, with

growing numbers of young people

applying to take these high-quality

programmes, where they can earn

and learn at the same time. From

September next year, pupils will also be

able to take the first raft of T-levels, our

new technical qualifications that will

Today’s GCSE results will

reflect our endeavour to

create a world-class system

for the opportunities ahead

gavin

williamsonn

I

f you want peace, prepare for

war, as Vegetius explained in

Epitoma rei militaris, the only

Roman military manual of its

kind to have survived intact.

Nigel Farage, unlike the Prime

Minister, isn’t a classicist, but I hope

he will be heeding the lesson.

The Brexit Party is on a war

footing, but with any luck will never

have to fight again. Farage knows

he must keep up the pressure on a

Tory party that has spent 50 years

betraying Eurosceptics. He is selecting

candidates for every seat, releasing

non-Brexit manifesto pledges (such as

cash for the North and ditching HS2)

and is furiously reminding voters that

the problems with Theresa May’s deal

extend far further than the backstop.

It is easy to understand why

Farage is acting in this way. He has

confirmed his place as one of the

heroes of the Brexit revolution, most

recently as the man who rescued it

from its near-death experience at the

hands of May’s clique of third-rate,

dishonest Remainer ultras. Without

the Brexit Party and its 30.5 per

cent of the vote at the European

elections, the 1922 Committee would

have been too cowardly to axe Mrs

May, the European Research Group

would have remained powerless

and Boris Johnson and his brilliant

count palatine, Dominic Cummings,

wouldn’t be in No 10 frantically

preparing for a no deal Brexit.

For now, Farage must keep up

the pressure. Without the threat

of a wipeout and, in extremis, the

potential replacement of the Tories

by the Brexit Party, some (currently

dutiful) Remainer ministers could still

turn against no deal and try to blow

everything up before October 31.

Yet Farage mustn’t lose sight of

the ultimate objective: a meaningful

departure from the EU that ensures

Britain’s voters and institutions regain

control of our laws, money and trade.

It should go without saying that a

genuine Brexit is compatible with a

proper agreement: it doesn’t have

to mean no deal. Yes, at present it

looks likely that the only acceptable

way out will in fact be without an

agreement, but there is still a chance

that this might change. Boris’s meeting

with Angela Merkel was surprisingly

hopeful.

But whether Europe’s nomenklatura

climbs down or not, at some point

soon, perhaps in a few weeks’ time,

even the most cynical will have

to concede that Boris is planning

to deliver the clean Brexit he has

promised. It will be obvious – for

those to whom it isn’t already – that

the existential threat comes from

Remainers, not No 10. It will then

make sense for Farage to declare

victory, put aside his distrust of Mr

Cummings and ensure his candidates

never make it to actual ballot papers.

To those Brexiteers who disagree,

I ask this: look at the facts. I can

still not believe just how pro-Brexit

this Government actually is. It is

breathtaking. Johnson/Cummings are

the real thing, as are Dominic Raab,

Priti Patel and all the other Brexiteers

in positions of power. Sajid Javid is

preparing a Budget that will blow

the socks off the economy and will

be the most important since Nigel

Lawson’s 1986 masterpiece. The

no-deal preparations are substantial

and sincere.

Johnson’s letter to Donald Tusk

contained two central points. The first

is that the PM rejects the backstop,

the most pathetic, preposterous treaty

clause any British government has

ever proposed signing.

The second, equally powerful, has

been overlooked. We will not merely

be leaving the single market and

customs union but will be setting our

own laws and taxes. It’s worth quoting

Johnson at length: “Although we will

remain committed to world-class

environment, product and labour

standards, the laws and regulations to

deliver them will potentially diverge

from those of the EU. That is the point

of our exit and our ability to enable this

is central to our future democracy.”

There will be no permanent

regulatory alignment and no signing

up to the EU’s horrifically anti-

competitive “level playing field”

guarantees. We will not have to copy

and paste, zombie-like, any new or

existing rules dreamt up in Brussels.

We will have the opportunity to

innovate and to compete with better

– or reduced – regulations.

Trade agreements necessitate some

broad alignment in certain areas to

allow mutual recognition of standards,

but that is radically different from the

wholesale surrender of sovereignty

Mrs May was proposing. Under any

possible Boris treaty, we will be self-

governing once again. His pre- or

post-Brexit negotiating aim is a

classic free-trade area, not non-voting

membership of a single regulatory

It is absurd to depict Boris

Johnson as Theresa May

2.0. Remainers are the

only threat to a clean exit

allister

heath

harry mount

We are bringing rigour back to education

We baldies can

still take a joke –

even one as lame

as Lineker’s

E

ver since Gary Lineker

stopped being a

brilliant England

striker and became a

megasmug TV presenter,

I haven’t liked him. I don’t

care for his sanctimonious

opinions, the artful

facial hair and the huge

overpayment by the BBC

which has made him their

highest-paid presenter, on

£1.75 million a year.

But, even as a bald man,

I didn’t bat an eyelid when

the over-indulged crisp

salesman said on Match of

the Day: “It’s a strong start to

the Premier League season.

Real hair-raising stuff at

times... unless you’re Alan

Shearer and Danny Murphy.”

The former footballers

Shearer and Murphy are,

needless to say, bald.

As a result, the BBC

received complaints from

members of the public. The

corporation’s official policy

means that it has no choice

but to respond to them.

Has modern Britain, with

its massive oversensitivity,

really sunk this low?

It isn’t a good joke –

although it is just the sort of

low-grade dressing-room

banter Lineker exchanges

for his ludicrous salary. But

it’s certainly not offensive.

It’s the sort of gag you might

expect from the Bash Street

Kids in The Beano in 1978,

back in the glorious pre-

offence days when people

didn’t gather themselves

into little protest groups

to pounce on any passing

comedian making a slightly

off-colour joke.

It’s great that we don’t

make nasty jokes about gay

people or ethnic minorities

any more, but baldness as

a protected characteristic?

You’re having a laugh – or

not, if you’re one of the new

British humourless brigade.

When you lose your hair,

you don’t lose your sense of

humour or your ability to be

teased. People often make

quips about my baldness

• and I do, too. Whenever
  hairdressers come up in
  conversation, someone is
  bound to say: “Not that you
  need to worry about that sort
  of thing!” And they’re right. I

transform the post-16 landscape. These

results will appear on the same day as

A-levels, reflecting their status.

The Prime Minister has tasked my

department with a number of priorities

that go beyond Brexit. We will continue

our work to build a world-class

education system that will equip every

pupil with the knowledge and skills

they need to make their way in the

world. We will also continue to embed

the recruitment and retention strategy,

to ensure that there are more brilliant

teachers in front of classes to help

future generations of pupils through

their GCSEs and beyond.

Top of my list will be to give teachers

the support they need to tackle poor

behaviour in schools. This can lead

to bullying, as well as disruption in

classes, preventing teachers from doing

their job and preventing pupils from

learning. All schools should provide

a safe learning environment, and

everyone in them should be able to go

about their business without fear of

intimidation by a minority of pupils.

Today is a milestone in many young

lives. I want to congratulate all of those

who are picking up their results and

wish them well for whatever lies ahead.

Gavin Williamson is Education

Secretary

Farage must be prepared to stand

down his victorious Brexit army

zone. The implication is that the rest

of Mrs May’s deal is dead: Boris’s letter

is incompatible with the Political

Declaration. His end point is exactly

what Brexiteers have been dreaming

about for so long.

When the time is right, Nigel

Farage should stand his party down,

especially if a general election has

to take place before we leave. At the

heart of the Boris/Cummings plan

is a simple calculation: they must

win swaths of Labour-held seats in

working-class areas to compensate for

a small number of losses to Lib Dems

in ultra-Remainer areas. Splitting the

pro-Brexit vote would be hopelessly

counterproductive.

Pro-Remain Tory MPs who vote

against Boris in a motion of no

confidence or help Parliament seize

control will either retire, join the

Lib Dems or be deselected (by CCHQ,

if need be). The party’s candidates

will thus comprise only Brexiteers,

including converts, as well as those

such as Amber Rudd who have

reconciled themselves to leaving.

There will be no need for Farage to

stand against any of them.

It is therefore absurd in the extreme

to depict Johnson as Theresa May 2.0,

as some deluded commentators

have begun to. Such an “analysis”

is entirely devoid of understanding.

Its authors are so convinced that the

only possible outcome is either the

May deal – now or at a later stage,

when we supposedly come crawling

back, begging for readmission to the

single market or customs union – or

no Brexit at all that they have become

trapped in a logical fallacy.

They can no longer see the world

as it is. Boris is preparing a real Brexit.

Only a Remainer parliamentary

putsch, or a dangerously divided

Brexit movement, can still stop him.

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haven’t been to a hairdresser

since 2005, when I first

realised I was going bald,

at the age of 33. I promptly

started shaving my head with

an electric razor – it never

takes more than five minutes.

Other sympathetic

souls are keen on telling

me baldness is a sign of

increased testosterone, as if

I hadn’t heard it a thousand

times before. I’d prefer

ultra-low testosterone and

Brad Pitt’s hair, thank you

very much.

It isn’t that I didn’t mind

losing my hair. I hated

it: the sudden glimpse of

my monk’s tonsure in a

changing-room mirror; the

gleaming dome bouncing

back the flashlight in indoor

photos. I still examine men’s

hairlines in the streets. “You

lucky so-and-so,” I think, as

I spot a homeless man with

thickly matted hair.

But, ultimately, I know it

doesn’t matter in the wider

scheme of things. I know that

other people couldn’t care

less about my baldness and

I hardly ever think about it

now. The good thing about

being bald is that it’s all

going on above your eyeline;

I have never directly seen

my baldness and never will.

Fortunately, I’ve never liked

looking in the mirror and I

loathe selfies.

I do know it’s a significant

characteristic. When I agree

to meet a stranger, I’ll always

tell them: “I’m the bald one

in the blue jacket.” But I

know that it’s also a harmless

feature, one that has held me

back in no way whatsoever.

I’ve never suffered from

baldism the way gay

people have suffered from

homophobia or minorities

have suffered from racism,

which makes me fair game

for jokes – even if they’re

Gary Lineker’s bargain-

basement gags.

Harry Mount is editor of

‘The Oldie’

follow Allister

Heath on Twitter

@AllisterHeath;

read more at

telegraph.co.uk/

opinion

read more at

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opinion

follow Harry Mount on

Twitter @mounth;

read more at

telegraph.co.uk/opinion

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