Thursday 15 September 2022

"Why was Kemi Badenoch overlooked for education secretary?” | Spiked

I watched Kemi Badenoch in action when she was still a player in the race to take over from Boris. She is very impressive. I was disappointed she didn’t go further. 

What’s the reason she’s not the new Education Secretary?  Is it because the Tories are afraid to take on the woke establishment? Could that really be so?  Could it be a woman thing? Truss doesn’t want a too-capable senior minister by her side? 

On Monday evening, the Westminster rumour mill went into overdrive over who was going to be sacked, demoted or promoted in Liz Truss’s new cabinet. After she electrified the Tory leadership contest in July, Kemi Badenoch, the MP for Saffron Walden, was widely expected to be offered a key position.

Many of her supporters had hoped she would become education secretary. Badenoch impressed in the leadership contest in part because of her willingness to take on woke ideology. And no area of public life has been as deranged by woke identity politics as our education system.

But by Tuesday evening those hopes evaporated when it was announced that Badenoch would be appointed as secretary of state for international trade. The largely unknown Kit Malthouse is now in charge of education. And, as a result, it is fairly safe to predict that the mad ideological ferment gripping English schools and universities will continue unchallenged. [Read on...]