I’m thinking of starting a political campaign. The idea is to draw attention to the rapid decline of one of the most treasured groups in British public life. Once a vital force in the Labour movement, they are now the political equivalent of an endangered species. The campaign will be called ‘Save Our Trots’.
Take the efforts of my local NUT rep, Nick Grant, to whip up opposition to the West London Free School. Grant makes no bones about being a Trotskyist — he’s out and proud, as it were — and therein lies the problem. Because everyone knows he’s a member of the Socialist Workers Party, few locals take his political views seriously.
If Grant had infiltrated a respectable organisation like the Labour party and perfected a mild, disarming manner, he would be a formidable opponent. As it is, hearing him rant and rave against ‘middle-class Acton parents’ is a little like watching a jihadist launch into an eye-popping rant against the state of Israel.
Two months ago I appeared before Ealing Council’s education scrutiny panel to answer questions about the West London Free School and debate with both Nick Grant and Mandy Golding, the head teacher of Acton High School. Participants were invited to submit evidence beforehand and Grant presented the panel with a lengthy document entitled ‘A Submission from Ealing Teachers Association (NUT)’. (Note the absence of an apostrophe after the word ‘teachers’. Syntax isn’t one of Grant’s strong suits.)
Paragraph 3.4 made for interesting reading: ‘This paragraph originally concerned Toby Young and the West London Free School,’ it read. ‘It was edited out by the borough’s legal department.’ Subsequent inquiries revealed that paragraph 3.4 contained a string of false and malicious allegations. Clearly, Grant’s rage had clouded his judgment, since committing libel in an official NUT document is quite extraordinarily reckless. (Incidentally, this document was widely disseminated before it was redacted by the council’s lawyers so there’s a possibility I may still be able to take the NUT to court. I’ve asked the council to send it to me and, naturally, they’ve refused, so it’s time for a freedom of information request. If any lawyers are reading this and fancy doing a bit of pro bono work please email me at tobyyoung@mac.com.)
Grant’s latest masterstroke is to organise a public meeting at Acton High School where attendees will be invited to ‘Say no to academies and free schools’. Just in case any Acton residents might make the mistake of thinking the local opposition to free schools is based on a genuine concern for children’s welfare, as opposed to kneejerk ideological prejudice, Grant has drafted in Bob Crow to address the audience. At least the RMT won’t be calling a one-day strike that day.
Also addressing the meeting will be the Anti Academies Alliance’s Jan Nielson and Syed Bokhari on behalf of the Right to Work Campaign. A quick Google search on Nielson pulls up an article praising her in Socialist Worker, while the Right to Work Campaign boasts one Nick Grant on its steering committee. Could either of these organisations be related to the SWP, perchance?
As I say, what’s so disheartening about this isn’t that free schools are being opposed by all the usual suspects, but that they’re making so little effort to conceal their true colours. Back in the golden era of the three-day week and the winter of discontent, the Trots were a force to be reckoned with. Their celebrated tactic of ‘entryism’ enabled them to control not only trade unions, but city councils, Labour party constituency associations, even a section of the Parliamentary Labour Party. They were the reds under the bed, the enemy within, and through organisations like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament they were able to exert a huge influence on national debates.
Contrast these Machiavellian plotters and schemers with Nick Grant and his motley crew. It saddens me to see this once potent political force reduced to such a pathetic rump. Where’s the cunning and guile for which this sect was justly celebrated? Bob Crow might as well have the word ‘Red’ tattooed on his forehead. The Stern Gang have become the Bash Street Kids in one generation.
So please, have a heart. Sign up to my campaign to ‘Save Our Trots’. If next week’s public meeting at Acton High School is anything to go by, they need all the help they can get.
Toby Young is associate editor of The Spectator.
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