'Kemi Badenoch just exposed jealous Left for what it is and owned Phillipson'
Bridget Phillipson just got humiliated - it's exposed everything that's wrong with Labour
Bridget Phillipson has been exposed as a vindictive education secretary who can dish it out but can't take it, writes Giles Sheldrick.
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And that was evident this week when she took to social media to conduct her boo hooing, hosting a pity party for one, after Kemi Badenoch told her a few home truths.
The trouble is Ms Phillipson rather embarrassed herself.
And then continued to defend the indefensible.
Rage, jealousy, and unadulterated abomination for anyone who is able to get on and get by independently. Or, in Labour’s view, those who have money and don’t rely on the state.
Take private schools for example. So ideologically driven is this Labour government that it decided to slap VAT on private school fees.
A dogma-driven decision to impose 20% and punish parents was its highest-profile manifesto commitment and despite Phillipson’s disingenuous protestations one purely and simply designed to appeal to the foaming-mouthed Left who abhor aspiration.
The policy came into effect in January 2025, halfway through the school year.
And what has been the result?
The unnecessary education tax has forced 30,000 children to leave private schools, many of which were forced to close, despite it being a help to the failing state sector rather than a burden.
Why? It was - and is - purely and simply class war.
What Phillipson has failed to grasp - and continues to defend - is that 30,000 state school places were being funded by those children’s parents’ taxes, but not claimed.
Now they are needed - and teacher numbers have fallen.
It's hardly the huge victory she claims it to be.
More malicious, malevolent, venomous, cruel, vindictive and vengeful.
Phillipson continues to show Labour for what it is. A cabal of jealous socialists who despise those who have made something of themselves and want the same for their children.
Labour is determined to level down.
Barely able to conceal her delight at the sinister policy of taxing education she said in a post on X: “The constant chatter about private schools reminds me exactly why I do this job.
“We’re raising more money than expected, school offer days passed smoothly and we’re investing in state schools. My focus remains on the schools attended by the majority of kids in this country.”
Constant chatter? That's the sound - almost all of it entirely unrepeatable - of parents, chief among them of children with special educational needs and disabilities, up and down the country rightly angry and outraged that this duplicitous and sneering government has imposed a policy that has seen more than 100 private schools shut simply because Labour - uniquely in Europe - decided to place a ceiling on personal ambition by slapping a tax on education.
All she has done is force more young people into a broken state school system because Labour hates those who choose to spend their money on a superior education, as they are free to do.
And tellingly, actual teachers in the actual state system wholeheartedly disagree with Phillipson's one-eyed assessment that she and Labour have transformed things for the better.
When 4,000 members of the National Education Union were asked about how Labour was performing on education ZERO opted to pick 'very well'. Some 37% went with very badly and 35% fairly badly.
Kemi was bang on - and that’s why do-as-we-say-not-as-we-do Labour MPs have been left reeling from her home truths.
After two years unemployment has skyrocketed, teacher numbers have been slashed, and excellent schools have been run out of business.
Phillipson said: “I wonder what it is about a working class woman driving record investment in state schools by ending private schools' tax breaks that the Tories hate so much.”
She wants us all to be grateful, but Kemi was right: Labour loves to dish it out but can’t take it.
She said: "'I grew up on a council estate' is not an excuse for failure. You are sacrificing the future of generations of kids on the altar of your class envy - reversing even Labour's academy reforms. 0% of teachers think you're doing a great job. I'm not here to give you a pat on the back. I speak for those people whose lives you're destroying and I'll NEVER stop speaking up for them."
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
