The Wrath of Conservative Party Conference
Francis Beckett is taken to task for things he never said at Conservative Party Conference.
4 Oct 2011, 17:00
Privatisation of education?
I was one of the New Statesman panel, and ATL general secretary Mary Bousted and I were attacking school privatisation.
First up from the floor was a lady called Elaine. “I’m from the wicked, evil private sector” she said, and gave a martyred little laugh. Mary and I protested that we’d never called the private sector wicked and evil, and we didn’t think it was, we just weren’t sure privatising schools did any good, but Elaine – apparently a former chief education officer who now works for Serco - wasn’t to be appeased.
She “begged” us to have some consideration for a couple of women in that very room, who were working on starting a free school. She assured us that, despite our wicked slurs, these women only wanted to make a good school for their children – we said we were sure that was the case. She said these fine women did not deserve our scorn, and we protested that we had never scorned them.
She pointed out these paragons to us – I only managed to locate one, a rather sulky blond lady who was giving me the sort of look that Bertie Wooster used to get from Aunt Agatha. Elaine said these fine women were doing fine work, and how dare we denigrate them, and we said we thought they were fine women doing fine work too, it was just that...but it was no good.
As the meeting closed, a tall, red-faced man came towards me, shaking with rage, and said he’d been “offended” by what I’d said. I’d run down academies, but he knew one in (I think he said) Bradford, which was doing a fine job, and I said I was sure it was. I pointed out that I’d said at least three times in the meeting that some academies were doing a fine job.
No, no, he said, if I didn’t believe it was doing a fine job, I should visit Bradford (it may have been Bristol) and see the fine work that this academy was doing. No, no, I said, I took his word for it, I didn’t need to visit Bradford (actually, I’ve an idea it was Burton). There you are, he said, all prejudice, won’t come and see for yourself.
So what’s my flash of insight? Well, it’s this. These people were genuinely upset. But they put their upset down to my having said things which I didn’t say – indeed, I took trouble to say the exact opposite. So what was the upset really about?
I think it was this. “Privatisation is good” has become, to these people and to some others, so much a part of accepted wisdom that when I question it, it feels to them rather as though I have rushed into the church in which they worship and shouted “Don’t you know God is dead?”
They can’t own up to this. They think they believe in free speech. But in reality, they regard the person who questions sacred beliefs like privatisation rather the way the Pope might have regarded a Cardinal whom ambled into the Vatican and said casually: “I think that Martin Luther’s got a point, you know.” Or like a member of the Central Committee telling Stalin: “Couldn’t we bring that Trotsky back – he had a few good ideas, you know.” Some things are just unsayable.
The author
Francis Beckett
Francis Beckett is a writer and journalist and editor of the book Prime Ministers Who Never Were.
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Comments (1)
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Not sure whether this was intended to be a humourous piece, or whether Francis really doesn't get it.
He says he is upset because he was criticised for saying things he didn't say, but isn't that fair given that his speech was opposing 'school privatisation' - something the government aren't carrying out or proposing (unfortunately).
I regret having missed this battle of the straw men.
05/10/2011 02:03