Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is caught in hot mic moment snapping at ITV crew who grilled her over concrete chaos engulfing schools and insisting government has gone …
Gillian Keegan #GillianKeegan
Gillian Keegan delivered an extraordinary foul-mouthed rant today as she was grilled by a TV crew about the concrete crisis engulfing schools.
The Education Secretary was caught on camera venting her frustration as she finished giving an interview to ITV News.
In a clip posted on the X social media site, Ms Keegan seemed unruffled and thanked the journalist as they wrapped up the questioning.
But the footage kept rolling as the clearly angry minister remarked: ‘Does anyone ever say, you know what you’ve done a f***ing good job because everyone else has sat on their a** and done nothing? No signs of that, no?’
It is unclear who Ms Keegan was criticising for ‘sitting on their a**’. She took over as Education Secretary from Kit Malthouse in October last year, which was long after concerns had first been raised about Raac.
Rishi Sunak has been under fire for curbing spending on upgrading school buildings, while Ms Keegan also hit out at Labour for failing to take action when it was in power before 2010.
Gillian Keegan was caught on camera venting her frustration as she finished giving an interview to ITV News
A taped off section inside Parks Primary School in Leicester which has been affected by the Raac crisis
The TV crew seemed slightly taken aback by her outburst, as she stared at the reporter.
Typically comments made before an interview starts and after it finishes are regarded as off the record.
However, ITV pointed out on X that Ms Keegan was still wearing her mic and they were about to film extra shots when the exchanges happened this morning.
‘In the moments after the main body of the interview had finished, and as the camera repositioned for extra shots, Keegan – still wearing her mic – criticised others and claimed the govt has gone ‘over and above’ in addressing concerns relating to Raac,’ ITV said.
Ms Keegan has endured a painful day as she toured studios trying to put the government’s case about the developing shambles.
How and when did evidence come to light on the concrete scandal?
• 1950s up to the mid-1990s – RAAC, a lightweight building material, is used
• 1995 – The Times newspaper reports the first warnings about RAAC cracking in roofs came in
• 2018 – The Department for Education (DfE) considers RAAC as a potential issue
• June 2023 – Problems were highlighted in a report by the National Audit Office (NAO)
• Summer 2023 – Schools minister Nick Gibb says fresh evidence came to light
• August 31, 2023 – Parents are informed some schools will be forced to close
More than 100 schools are having to fully or partially shut after alarm was raised about RAAC in buildings – a lightweight type of concrete that was used from the 1950s to the 1990s, but it is now believed can collapse without warning.
Thousands of children in England are facing the prospect of online lessons as they return for the start of the new academic year today.
Ms Keegan looked visibly uncomfortable as she was grilled by Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid in another interview.
Sitting alongside fellow presenter Ed Balls – a former secretary of state for education – Ms Reid said: ‘This is a mess, isn’t it?’
Ms Keegan tried to explain that three ‘incidents’ occurred – some not in schools – where in one a roof panel had fallen at a ‘non-critical’ site towards the end of August.
‘I didn’t want to risk this happening anywhere,’ she said. ‘So I change the guidance on non-critical roofs to say we had to do the same with critical ones, which is prop them up or get temporary accommodation in place.
‘I do understand that for parents and the headteachers who are affected that was last minute, but you can only act on the evidence when it emerges.’
Interrupting her, Ms Reid pointed to an ITV investigation in March where it was found 68 schools were aware it had RAAC – a lightweight form of concrete used between the 1950s and 1990s – and could be at risk with more than 1,500 in the dark, with 2,000 still to have an inspection.
Ms Reid said: ‘That was back in March, we are now in September and you won’t know the full scale of this until the end of the year. Daniel [Hewitt, ITV reporter] said at the time in March that he had not had an interview with the Department for Education.
‘We bid for an interview with you or one of your ministers back in March and could not get anywhere with this. It seems remarkable that now the first day of term we are in the situation we are in when you knew the full scale of this back in March.’
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan was grilled by Good Morning Britain’s Susan Reid over the crumbling concrete crisis that has impacted schools
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