Labour needs to 'back off' about 'partygate' says Baillie

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Year Six pupils at Welbeck Primary School are said to have been pushed to write letters attacking the Prime Minister and calling for his resignation, as seen on pictures shared on a now-deleted Twitter account. The school’s headteacher, meanwhile, posted a series of messages that included the phrase “Tory scum”, resulting in one Conservative MP saying he expected a staff member “be sacked” for such behaviour.

Among the documents the 10-year-old pupils allegedly worked on stands out an A4 letter addressed to Labour MP Lilian Greenwood written by one of the students.

The text, shared on the account that no longer exists, read: “This week in Year Six we have been looking at our aspirations and role models for the future.

“We looked at famous leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama, and we have also looked at teachers and headteachers who are doing their part in keeping us happy, healthy and safe.

“We also looked at people who we respect and disappointingly, our own Prime Minister has not made it onto this list.”

Welbeck Primary School, an inner-city community school graded Outstanding by Ofsted in 2008, was denounced by Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith for “putting words in children’s mouths”.

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He said: “Children and the schools they attend do not exist for the purpose of furthering people’s personal political agendas.

“Teachers work very hard to provide balanced, robust and challenging lessons and we must not allow the behaviour of individuals like this to give the profession a bad name by trying to indoctrinate our children.

“Children go to school to learn, not to have words put into their mouths.”

The student’s letter emphasised their frustration over the alleged rule-breaking gatherings that took place in and around Downing Street during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown.

It said: “During this past week I watched a story on BBC Newsround that stated our PM is under investigation for 12 parties that have apparently occurred – a few of which had over 100 people at them when we weren’t even allowed to meet more than two people.

“What makes this matter worse is that when he was questioned about it in Parliament he said the following, ‘I have been reassured there was no party.’

“This is a lie.”

The letter went on to question the Government’s performance in creating jobs, tackling crime, and dealing with the pandemic.

The student concluded: “To sum it all up, I am enraged. Infuriated. I feel lied to and that we desperately need a new leader.

“I feel that there is no reason to trust our government and as a British citizen, the Prime Minister should resign.

“This letter is on behalf of my country.”

Welbeck Primary School wrote next to the tweet that contained the letter: “Year 6 pupils have written to Lilian Greenwood regarding how angry they are with the Prime Minister for the allegations he broke lockdown rules and his continued lying to Parliament.

“Their trust in politicians has been damaged.”

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Ms Greenwood replied: “I understand and share their anger and I will be writing to Boris Johnson asking him to respond to my young constituents’ concerns.”

The school’s encouragement for the pupils to engage in the UK’s political discussion comes at a turbulent time for the Prime Minister, as he fights to stay afloat amid a number of scandals.

While “partygate” is proving a challenge to his premiership, this week’s attack by protesters outside Parliament on Sir Keir Starmer has only exacerbated the country’s discontent with Mr Johnson.

The Labour leader had to be protected by police as he was set upon by anti-vaxxers who, among other angry claims, accused him of protecting paedophile Jimmy Savile.

The incident, highly scrutinised by several politicians of the Prime Minister’s own party, followed a false claim by Mr Johnson last week that Sir Keir failed to prosecute Savile during his time as director of public prosecutions.

One photo posted by the school on Twitter featured a pupil standing next to and pointing at a whiteboard that had the words “lies”, “mistrust” and “selfish” next to “Boris Johnson” written on it.

It also said: “He threw a party during lockdown when no one else could.

“[He] fired people for using playgrounds.”

Mr Clarke-Smith, who has a background in education, condemned the school’s teaching approach: “I was a teacher myself prior to entering parliament and I would always welcome healthy debate in the classroom. But this falls well below the basic standards that parents expect for their children’s education.”

Speaking to MailOnline, he added: “In fact, if I had done this and then brought my school into disrepute with the subsequent tweet then I would expect to be sacked.”

Welbeck Primary School and Ms Greenwood have been approached for comment.

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