Tristram Hunt MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary has today written to Michael Gove following reports that Tim Boyes, headteacher of Queensbridge School,  warned a minister at the Department for Education in December 2010 about efforts by radical Muslim hardliners to take control of schools in Birmingham.

The full text of the letter is below:

Rt Hon Michael Gove MP

Education Secretary

Department for Education

Sanctuary Buildings

20 Great Smith Street,

London

SW1P 3BT

Dear Michael,

I write following reports that the highly respected headteacher of Queensbridge School, Tim Boyes, warned a member of your ministerial team in December 2010 about efforts by radical Muslim hardliners to take control of schools in Birmingham.

Mr Boyes told the BBC that he had warned the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools, Lord Hill, about efforts to destabilise headteachers, saying “I know that headteachers have had nervous breakdowns, they’ve lost their jobs… schools have been really torn apart.”

He described how governors in one school “wanted to replace the head with a Muslim head”; in another that “staff and governors were in an alliance to destabilise the head”; and in another school he described events as a “bloodless coup”.

I note that your department refused the BBC’s offer for a minister to be interviewed about these revelations. Therefore, given that Parliament is not sitting, I want to offer you the opportunity to clarify the reasons for your department’s failure to act on the information provided by Mr Boyes.

On 15th April 2014, you said in relation to the allegations surrounding the Trojan Horse plot: “we cannot allow uncertainty for parents or pupils to persist.” It would seem that you have allowed these uncertainties to go on unchecked for three and a half years. Far from taking swift action, your department has sat on these claims.

As a result of the failure to act, we have arrived at a situation in which 21 Birmingham schools are under

investigation by Ofsted. We await the results of the investigations by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw.

Your response to the revelations leaves too many unanswered questions. You will, I am sure, want to place on record responses to the many unanswered questions surrounding this affair:

•         Please can you confirm that this meeting in fact took place with a minister in your department, rather than simply with officials, and that the minister concerned was Lord Hill?

- Can you publish the record of that meeting, including who was present and where it took place?

- Please can your confirm what action was taken regarding the information presented by Tim Boyes, including whether it was relayed to you or to your Special Advisers?

If no action was taken and you were not informed can you explain why not?

• What assurances can you give that other warnings have not been ignored?
• Do you now accept that there is a lack of local oversight in our school system that means an increasing number of problems are going unnoticed?
• What actions will you be taking to monitor and respond to fragile schools, whether in relation to governance, standards or financial probity?

These are very serious allegations coming from a senior and highly respected headteacher. The failure to act will undermine the confidence of other heads to raise concerns with ministers. It is not acceptable for headteachers in schools in our country to become the target for radical hardliners wanting to infiltrate our school system.

I look forward to receiving your response.

Yours sincerely, 

Tristram Hunt MP

Shadow Education Secretary