SARAH VINE: Arise, Sir Gavin… for services to complete ineptitude as the worst Education Secretary

This being a family newspaper, I’m afraid I can’t relay what my 18-year-old daughter said when I told her Gavin Williamson had been knighted. Suffice to say it was not language becoming of a young lady.

At a time when we have all been transfixed with horror at the atrocities being visited on Ukraine by Putin, focusing on anything else almost feels wrong. 

Maybe that explains why the Government chose to announce Williamson’s knighthood this week. Perhaps they were hoping that the suffering of the Ukrainian people would act as a distraction from this asinine decision. I sincerely hope not. Because that would make a bad thing ten times worse.

In summation, by popular consent the worst Education Secretary in recent history, a man who presided over a series of cock-ups that derailed the education of thousands upon thousands of students, has been rewarded with one of the highest honours in the land.

Call me naive, but I thought the whole point of a knighthood was to recognise outstanding achievement or service. Not some sort of consolation prize for serial incompetence.

This is a man whose only real distinction in politics was being fired by two consecutive Prime Ministers, first as Defence Secretary under Theresa May in May 2019, and then by Boris Johnson last year.

Everything else in between has been a series of bizarre misjudgements, ranging from the time he declared that Putin should ‘go away and shut up’ to mistaking rugby player Maro Itoje (who campaigned for children to get laptops during lockdown) with footballer Marcus Rashford (who campaigned for free school meals).

True, some of his blunders were unintentionally entertaining – such as the time he was heckled by his own mobile phone’s Siri function while at the despatch box, not to mention his inability to recall his own A-level results. 

But overall the impression given during Williamson’s four years as a Cabinet Minister is one of laughable ineptitude. Or at least it would be were it not for the deadly serious repercussions.

The idea that the Government would even contemplate awarding him an honour, let alone actually go through with it, is just beyond embarrassing. The second his name appeared on whatever list it is these things appear on, his answer should just have been a flat ‘no’, with an extra serving of ‘no’ on top.

Because as well as being a kick in the teeth for all those poor kids who had their exam results wrongly downgraded – and their futures messed around – as a result of ‘Sir’ Gavin’s incompetence (not to mention their poor parents, who in some cases are still dealing with the fallout), it’s also an act of self-sabotage Boris Johnson could have done without.

At a time when he’s been showing real leadership and statecraft in the face of Putin’s aggression, it’s unbelievably frustrating for Conservatives such as myself to see him hamstrung by idiotic errors of judgment such as this one. But that’s Johnson all over: good at the big stuff, absolutely rubbish when it comes to the details.

God knows what the personal relationship between Johnson and Williamson is.

Perhaps there is some truth in suggestions that Williamson may have information from his time as Chief Whip that Johnson really does not want revealed.

But if that is the case, it only makes the lack of judgment worse. Partly because one should never give in to blackmail. But mainly because it would mean the Prime Minister is prepared to debase the honours system simply to appease someone who was nothing short of a liability to him and the Conservative Party.

Johnson has demonstrated remarkable clear-sightedness and strength so far in his response to Putin. This terrible situation has afforded him the chance to show the electorate what he’s really made of and what he truly believes in.

There are many things in this world worth dying in a ditch for. Gavin Williamson is not one of them.