| Notes |
Some more fights Dominic Cummings has started
As a Michael Gove SpAd his appointment was initially vetoed by none less than Andy Coulson. Some reports suggest he participated in DfE meetings before he finally joined in 2011, and had a hand in the establishment of the free schools charity “New Schools Network” (later employer of both Nick Timothy and Toby Young) with another Gove official, Rachel Wolf.
Gove’s reign at DfE was a particularly combative one. The secretary of state positioned himself in direct opposition to what he saw as the vested interests of teachers and education specialists (“the blob”). Free schools were just one facet of a campaign that also took in the cancellation and subdued restart of a school buildings repair programme, an ever increasing move towards academisation, Gove sending a Bible to every school in the UK, and a series of micro-level interventions into the minutiae of the curriculum.
In all this chaos Cummings managed to last until August of that year before sparking a scandal – with a leaked email demonstrated a keenness to keep discussions with Gove and others to private accounts only. Tales of selective deletions of emails within DfE followed – as did an £11k (performance-related?) pay rise.
A couple of years later rumours emerged that he (with fellow SpAd Henry de Zoete) was behind the @ToryEducation twitter account that focused on the hurling of inventive personal abuse at members of the press, Labour, and the Lib Dems. A suspiciously Cummings-like turn of phrase found its way as an anonymous quote into the Spectator – former Childrens’ Minister Tim Loughton was a “lazy, incompetent, narcissist”.
Meanwhile, a senior DfE official received a £25,000 payout after allegations of bullying by Cummings and others. This story wound its way through the Commons Education Committee – where Cummings’ “random acts of verbal aggression” and “use of obscene and intimidating language” entered the public record.
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