The Sunday Times - UK (2022-02-06)

sis and why it was allowed to go

unchecked by regulators.

Exam boards were responsible

for quality assurance last year on

behalf of Ofqual, the exam regula-

tor, but evidence was sampled

from only 19 per cent of examina-

tion centres in England. This

resulted in the revision of just 47

A-level grades out of 754,

entries, meaning that just 0.

per cent of grades were changed.

The extent to which grades have

risen is revealed as the govern-

ment is set to confirm this week

that teenagers will sit traditional

exam papers this summer for the

first time since the pandemic

started. Ministers will argue that

they are the fairest way of assess-

ing performance but critics will

argue that some pupils have

missed more lessons than others,

making public exams unfair.

Tomorrow exam boards will

outline the questions pupils will

tackle in June — an attempt to make

up for the disruption they faced.

Teachers at dozens of private

schools at least doubled the pro-

portion of A*s handed out to their

A-level pupils last year compared

with 2019, when children last sat

public exams, analysis shows.

In 2019, 16.1 per cent of private

school pupils had their A-levels

graded A*. In 2021 — when teachers

decided what marks to award their

pupils — the proportion jumped to

39.5 per cent.

Research by The Sunday Times

shows for the first time the extent

of the grade inflation in individual

schools. At North London Colle-

giate School, a girls’ school in Edg-

ware whose senior fees are more

than £21,000 a year, the propor-

tion of A* grades soared from 33.

per cent in 2019 to 90.2 per cent

last summer. The 56.4 percentage

point increase is the highest

recorded in the investigation.

Introduced in 2010, the A* grade

was meant to be a mark of excep-

tional achievement, but has been

handed out to record numbers

during the pandemic. The number

of A* grades trebled — and even

quadrupled — at 25 schools.

The findings have prompted

calls by MPs for an inquiry into the

“manipulation” of England’s exam

system during the coronavirus cri-

Alastair McCall, Sian Griffiths

and Nick Rodrigues

Parent Power

Sacklers and comes after New

York’s Metropolitan Museum of

Art removed the family name from

seven galleries in December. Other

institutions including Kew Gar-

dens, Imperial College London

and Cambridge University’s Ket-

tle’s Yard are also distancing them-

selves from the Sacklers. Shake-

speare’s Globe theatre plans to

rename its Sackler Studios educa-

tion centre “no later than 2025”.

The family amassed a $13 billion

(£9.6 billion) fortune thanks to

their ownership of Purdue

Pharma, which made OxyContin, a

highly addictive painkiller. The

drug was prescribed to millions for

long-term use after aggressive mar-

keting campaigns.

The Sacklers have been accused

of knowingly misleading doctors

and regulators about the drug’s

addictiveness, which they deny.

The family are among the big-

gest donors to the arts and educa-

tion. Since 2009 they have given

away almost £170 million in Brit-

ain. Critics accuse them of “art-

washing” their money.

Full story, page 3

The Tate is removing the Sackler

name from its walls because of the

billionaire family’s leading role in

America’s opioid crisis, which has

killed more than 500,000 people.

A plaque marking the Sackler

Escalator at Tate Modern in Lon-

don was quietly removed late last

week. The same will happen to the

sign next to the museum’s Sackler

Lifts. The Sackler Octagon at Tate

Britain will also be renamed.

The decision makes the Tate the

biggest UK body to cut ties with the

Liam Kelly and Sabah Meddings

NEWMAN’S

VIEW Tate ditches Sackler name Sex pest Met detective kept job

A woman who was called “amaz-

ingly hot” by a senior detective

investigating the mugging she had

reported has begun a legal case

against the Metropolitan Police.

Kristina O’Connor, 33, alleges

that Detective Chief Inspector

James Mason, who later became a

staff officer to Cressida Dick, the

commissioner, told her that he was

as “determined in my pursuit of

criminals as I am of beautiful

women”. He was found guilty of

gross misconduct last year but still

works for the Met.

The legal claim will increase the

pressure on Dick, who has pres-

ided over several scandals involv-

ing sexism and misogyny.

O’Connor, a musician from

London, said that Mason ques-

tioned her about her love life

instead of investigating how sev-

eral men had attacked her and left

her with a black eye.

O’Connor, the daughter of the

late comedian Des O’Connor, said

that the detective had “used his

Emily Dugan

Social Affairs Correspondent

Continued on page 2→

February 6, 2022 · Issue No 10,300 · sundaytimes.co.uk £3 · only £2 to subscribers (based on 7 day Print Pack)

Sunday newspaper of the year

THE MAGAZINE AT

(^60) SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Boris Johnson has told allies that
he is determined to cling on to
power as he prepares to face a con-
fidence vote as soon as this week.
Friends say the prime minister
is determined to stay in No 10.
“He’s making very clear that they’ll
have to send a Panzer division to
get him out of there,” one senior
adviser said.
Downing Street believes the
prime minister is in “the danger
zone” and that the threshold for
calling a vote — letters from 54 MPs
to the chairman of the 1922 Com-
mittee — could soon be reached.
Members of Johnson’s shadow
whipping operation believe that at
least 35 have submitted letters and
that the figure could be as high as

45. Some MPs think it may be more
    than 50.
    Some ministers have turned on
    Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, accus-
    ing him of plotting against the
    prime minister and saying that he
    should be sacked for disloyalty.
    In spite of Johnson’s determina-
    tion to hang on, three sources say
    Carrie Johnson has grown weary of
    the pressure on her, her husband

it should be filed under fiction.

Carrie had a baby only weeks ago

and the obsessive way in which she

is hounded is bordering on

sinister.”

Johnson has announced plans to

overhaul his top team after the

departure of five of his most senior

aides within 24 hours last week.

The key changes include the

appointment of Steve Barclay,

chancellor of the Duchy of Lancas-

ter, as the new Downing Street

chief of staff. He will remain a min-

ister and create a new Office of the

Prime Minister, covering No 10 and

the Cabinet Office. Guto Harri,

who was Johnson’s chief aide at

City Hall in his first term as London

mayor, will become Downing

Street’s director of communica-

tions.

Henry Newman, a close friend

of the prime minister’s wife, is to

leave Downing Street and is

expected to return to work for

Michael Gove, his former boss.

Newman’s departure will be

regarded as a sign that Johnson has

listened to critics who have com-

plained that his wife’s allies are too

powerful. He is one of the aides

believed to have attended parties

Caroline Wheeler
and Tim Shipman

You’ll need a tank division to drag me out of Downing St, Johnson tells allies

Private schools

‘gamed’ Covid

to boost grades

Revealed: proportion of A*s handed out to some A-level

pupils doubled when pandemic halted public exams

TIME TO GET

CHILDREN

BACK TO THE

EXAM HALL

Continued on page 4→

Our research looked at the

grades from 2021 published on

school websites by the 250 leading

private and 250 state secondary

schools compared with those pub-

lished in this newspaper’s Parent

Power rankings in 2019, the last

year of moderated exam results.

The true scale of the grade infla-

tion is likely to be higher because

many of these schools have not

published their 2021 exam results

in full. Only 155 of the top 250 inde-

pendent secondaries and 66 of the

top 250 state secondaries have

published or released details of

their A* grades on their websites

for 2021.

Among the leading private

schools that have not published

detailed A-level results are Eton

College, King’s College School,

Wimbledon, Westminster School

and the Manchester Grammar

School.

While significant inflation in the

proportion of A* grades was

already known — accounting for

7.8 per cent of all A-level grades in

2019, rising to 19.1 per cent in 2021

in all schools (and 39.5 per cent in

independents) — the scale of the

increase in individual schools

was not.

At Winchester College, which

was attended by the chancellor,

Rishi Sunak, A* grades rose from

42.3 per cent to 80.2 per cent. At

St Paul’s Girls’ School in

Hammersmith, west London,

which has topped the Parent

The Queen began Platinum Jubilee celebrations, marking her 70-year reign, at Sandringham yesterday

wife in an effort to topple his

premiership.

Allies accuse Dominic Cum-

mings, Johnson’s former aide

who left Downing Street in

November 2020 after losing a

power struggle with Carrie, and

other former No 10 officials of

planting stories about her in Ash-

croft’s book.

Dorries said: “This book is

based on a tissue of lies provided

by vengeful and mendacious

men who were once employ-

ees in No 10 and is an insight

into their warped minds. If

it ever sees the light of day,

and their children and has pri-

vately voiced the view that it might

be better if he were to quit.

The pressure will only intensify

this weekend with the publication

of extracts from a biography of the

prime minister’s wife.

The book, which is funded by

the Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, will

make colourful claims about the

extent of Mrs Johnson’s influence

over Downing Street policy and

staff.

Nadine Dorries, the culture

secretary, has accused Johnson’s

political opponents of waging a

toxic briefing war against his

PAGE 4

JOE GIDDENS/PA WIRE

FROZEN IN

No 10

PAGES 6-

Continued on page 2→

Queen

anoints

Queen

Camilla

The Queen has said she wants the

Duchess of Cornwall to be

crowned Queen Consort when the

Prince of Wales accedes to the

throne, in an intervention ending

years of controversy and

confusion over Camilla’s future

title.

In a statement released last

night to mark her Platinum Jubilee

today, the Queen expressed her

“sincere wish that when the time

comes, Camilla will be known as

Queen Consort” when Charles

becomes king, in recognition of

“her loyal service”. It was the first

time the Queen had given her

view publicly on an issue that has

divided opinion since Charles and

Camilla wed in 2005.

A spokesman for the couple

said they were “touched and

honoured by Her Majesty’s

words”. When the couple

married, Clarence House issued a

statement saying that Camilla

would be known as Princess

Consort in an attempt to appease

those who were opposed to the

idea of Camilla as a future queen.

There has been widespread

sensitivity around the issue since

the death of Diana, Princess of

Wales, in 1997.

Charles, 73, has always been

adamant that his second wife

should be crowned queen. The

Clarence House statement was

quietly removed from the royal

website in 2018.

Last night a source close to

Charles said: “This is an important

step in laying the groundwork for

His Royal Highness’s reign. The

prince loves his ‘darling wife’ and

it would be punitive in the

extreme for her not to be given the

same role as any other wife of a

monarch.”

In her message marking 70

years since her accession to the

Roya Nikkhah Royal Editor

Continued on page 3→

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