The Times - UK (2020-12-03)

the times | Thursday December 3 2020 2GM 23

News

Alan Yentob held meetings about
removing Camila Batmanghelidjh as
head of the charity Kids Company on
BBC premises, only for her to turn up
uninvited, the High Court was told.
Mr Yentob, 73, the former creative
director of the BBC, was chairman of
trustees for the charity while Ms Bat-
manghelidjh was chief executive.
Kids Company was set up in 1996 and

Kids Company boss ‘gatecrashed meeting about removing her’

Fariha Karim

An Eton master has claimed that staff
members with “unorthodox views” fear
that they could be next in the firing line
after an English teacher was sacked
over a video on patriarchy.
Luke Martin, who preaches in chapel,
wrote to Dr Andrew Gailey, the school’s
vice-provost, claiming that it was com-
ing close to “indoctrinating” pupils with
a “progressive world view” akin to reli-
gious fundamentalism.
He urged the Eton College leader-
ship to reinstate Will Knowland, who
was sacked after he refused to remove a
video from his YouTube channel which
argues that patriarchy is grounded in
biology. The dismissal has prompted
criticism of Simon Henderson, the
head master, who has been accused of
trying to suppress free speech.
Eton said that it had asked Mr Know-
land to remove the video after receiving
legal advice indicating that it could be
in breach of equalities legislation and
education regulations. He refused re-
peatedly and was dismissed.
Mr Knowland, a member of the Free
Speech Union, had wanted to discuss
the lecture as part of the school’s per-
spectives course. Dr Martin, who re-
cently resigned as master of perspec-
tives, said that working as a teacher at
Eton had been his “dream job” but the
sacking had cast a pall over staff quar-
ters. “The effect on the common room
is disheartening,” he said. “The ques-
tion for some of us is: if [Mr Knowland]
was disciplined for expressing unortho-
dox views, might I be next?”
The teacher said that he had become
aware of “a worrying trend”. He added:

The French and Spanish authorities are
trying to solve the disappearance of a
British hiker in the Pyrenees after it was
suggested that she may not have
suffered an accident.
Search teams have started looking at
“other options” to explain the where-
abouts of Esther Dingley, 37, who last
spoke to her partner, Dan Colegate, 38,
more than a week ago.
The couple, who have been together
for 18 years, had been touring Europe in

Missing British hiker may have left the mountains, say gendarmes

Will Humphries a camper van for six years. Ms Dingley
had been due to end her solo trek last
Wednesday but failed to contact Mr
Colegate and he alerted the authorities.
Search parties in Spain and France
have used helicopters and dogs to scour
the trails she could have used.
Mr Colegate said that in recent days
the search teams had suggested that Ms
Dingley might not be in the mountains.
“Search co-ordinators have told me
that although they can never be 100 per
cent sure, the prevailing opinion in the
search teams is that she isn’t there,” he

said. “If she had fallen from one of the

paths, they would have expected to find

her, given the closeness of the search

and the fact most of the trails are

straightforward across open ground.”

It was reported last night that police

were searching for an unidentified man

who had given Ms Dingley a lift. Three

days before she was reported missing,

she wrote on Facebook that she had

accepted a lift back to her camper van

from another hiker because the wea-

ther was bad. Her vehicle was found on

the Spanish side of the border and the

authorities said it was “imperative” that

the man be found, The Sun reported.

Ms Dingley is on the missing persons

list in Spain and the case has been

passed to a judicial unit in France. This

means that they will be looking at other

explanations beyond a mountain acci-

dent, although a source in the gen-

darmerie said a mountain accident was

still considered most likely.

The inquiry first involved only the

gendarmerie’s high mountain unit in

Luchon in the Pyrenees, but the re-

search brigade in Saint-Gaudens took

charge on November 26. The transfer

does not mean foul play is suspected.

French investigators have said Ms

Dingley was last seen by walkers on the

Spanish side of the Pic de Sauvegarde

on November 22 and that she was in-

tending to cross into France. However,

the source said that there had been no

sightings of her in France.

A Foreign Office spokesman said:

“Our staff are supporting the family of

a British woman reported missing in

the Pyrenees and are in contact with

the French and Spanish authorities.”

received £42 million from the public

purse, with backers including David

Cameron and the artist Damien Hirst.

It closed in August 2015 amid claims of

financial mismanagement.

Ms Batmanghelidjh, Mr Yentob and

six others are opposing the official

receiver’s attempt in court to have them

banned from directorships.

In an affidavit, Mr Yentob described

how he had held four trustee meetings

at the BBC. He had tried to arrange one

in December 2014 without Ms Batman-

ghelidjh being present so that trustees

could discuss concerns about her.

He wrote: “I called the meeting

because of the staff raising concerns...

and because of the charity’s financial

position, which the trustees felt was

worse than in previous years, despite

what Camila was telling us.”

A meeting was held at the BBC for the

second time. He said: “One of the staff

had told Camila about the meeting, so

she turned up unannounced.” After she

left, he said, “the trustees discussed how

to proceed with Camila in light of the

financial challenges... we came to the

conclusion there would need to be a

change at the CEO level”.

He held another two trustee meet-

ings at the BBC, which Ms Batmanghel-

idjh attended.

Mr Yentob denied that the charity

had “blackmailed” the government in-

to handing over more money by telling

ministers that the charity would not

survive. “This was not a ‘threat’ or

‘blackmail’. It was just a fact,” he said.

The charity contacted Dawn Prima-

rolo, the paymaster-general, when it

faced a tax bill of £689,957. Mr Yentob

said that a donor paid off £100,000 and

in July 2003 HMRC waived the re-

mainder, demonstrating “the govern-

ment’s commitment to the charity”.

The BBC declined to comment.

The hearing continues.

Eton heading

for a regime of

indoctrination,

warns master

“There is a growing promotion of a so-

called progressive ideology, that claims

to be inclusive, tolerant, and kind. What

has dawned on me over the last few

years is that it is remarkably similar...

to the forms of religious fundamental-

ism that I’m familiar with. If you

disagree with it, you’re excluded.

“I’ve become increasingly concerned

that some schools, including Eton, are

moving towards a point where it will be

accurate to say that they are trying to

indoctrinate their students.”

Dr Martin said that Mr Knowland,

whose YouTube channel is called

Knowland Knows, had offered a per-

spective on masculinity in the video. “I

don’t agree with all the views expressed,

but then why should I? The point of

perspectives is that boys are exposed to

various perspectives, some of which

they will disagree with.”

Martin van Creveld, an Israeli histo-

rian, wrote in support of Mr Knowland

after he heard that the teacher quoted

lines from his book in the lecture. He

wrote: “Welcome to classical Athens,

where Socrates was made to drink poi-

son for ‘corrupting’ the young.”

The Times reported yesterday that a

pupil who wrote to Mr Henderson de-

manding his resignation was sent home

for a short break.

A spokeswoman for Eton said: “Once

again, there are attempts to conduct or

influence the college’s disciplinary pro-

cess in public rather than via the proper

procedures. This letter has been re-

ceived by the vice-provost. As he will

chair the appeal hearing it is not appro-

priate for us to comment further.”

Eton is trampling on the freedom to

think, Jenni Russell, page 34

Fariha Karim

A

row over plans

to spend

£100,000 on

an unveiling

ceremony for a

statue of Margaret

Thatcher in her home

town has prompted calls

for a referendum to

settle the matter (Neil

Johnston writes).

A former mayor of

Grantham called for

the vote to end debate

after the proposals

were approved.

Residents in the

Lincolnshire town have

been split for more

than a decade. The

monument is in storage

at a secret location. So far

only a plaque above her

father’s former grocery

shop commemorates her

links to Grantham.

Thatcher served as

Conservative prime

minister from 1979 to

1990, when she was

forced out. Many of her

policies had proved

unpopular, especially the

poll tax. She was elevated

to the House of Lords in

1992 as Baroness Thatcher

and died in 2013.

Planners approved a

statue in February last

year after the sculpture

by Douglas Jennings was

offered to South Kesteven

district council. Previous

proposals to erect it in

Parliament Square were

rejected.

A plinth was erected in

March but the unveiling

was postponed because of

the pandemic. Plans to

underwrite a £100,000

unveiling ceremony

have been approved by

the Conservative-led

council, which says

that the event will

attract world interest.

Opponents said that

the cost was an

“insult” to struggling

residents. An online

campaign attracted

2,000 people to an

“egg-throwing

contest” at the event.

Ian Selby, an

independent councillor

and former mayor, said

that a referendum was

the best way to settle the

debate. He said that using

taxpayers’ money to fund

the statue was “stirring

up a hornet’s nest”.

Iron Lady’s

home town

split over

statue plans

A plinth has been

raised in Grantham for

a statue of Margaret

Thatcher, which would be

unveiled in a ceremony

costing £100,000

DOUGLAS JENNINGS/PA

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