• About
    • Ethics policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Ownership, funding and corrections
    • Complaints procedure
    • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
Brighton and Hove News
10 June, 2023
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
Brighton and Hove News
No Result
View All Result
Home Brighton

City’s education chief set to step down

by Jo Wadsworth
Tuesday Jul 23, 19 at 9:19AM
A A
10
Queen’s Park candidate spotlight

Councillor Nick Childs

Councillor Nick Childs

Brighton and Hove’s lead education councillor is to step down after days of criticism that he sends his child to a private school.

Momentum-backed Councillor Nick Childs told Labour colleagues last night (Monday 22 July) that he intended to resign as deputy leader of Brighton and Hove City Council and chair of the Children, Young People and Skills Committee.

Earlier that day he had deleted his Twitter account amid continuing fallout from the revelation that he sends his eldest daughter to the exclusive public school Roedean.

The story was also making it difficult to speak out about the academisation of Moulsecoomb Primary School, which he had repeatedly described as being privatised, without facing accusations of hypocrisy.

However, in a statement released this morning, Councillor Childs said he was resigning due to his full time work at the National Education Union and to spend more time with his family.

He said: “I have decided to resign from my roles due to work and family responsibilities. I have a full-time job which is proving incompatible with the time commitment necessary at the highest level of local government.

“I’m going to dedicate my time to working for the residents of Queen’s Park who elected me in May, to make sure their local issues are addressed and I represent our ward fully in the city.

“I’ll spend the summer concentrating on handover to colleagues to ensure that the important policies already in hand can be continued into the next academic year.

“The administration will continue working towards extending premature baby leave for school staff, a workload charter for teachers, the extension of our ‘Every Child a Reader’ scheme and our campaign against the privatisation of Moulsecoomb Primary School.”

No replacements for either post were decided at last night’s meeting of Labour group councillors. A new deputy leader is expected to be formally appointed at a meeting of the full council in the autumn and a new chair of the Children, Young People and Skills Committee is expected to be decided before the next meeting of the committee.

Councillor Childs’s decision came after a heated exchange with the Labour MP for Hove, Peter Kyle, sparked by a sharp retort from the Queen’s Park councillor to a tweet by Mr Kyle in defence of Hilary Armstrong, the Labour peer whose local party colleagues in Durham voted to expel her after she signed a letter condemning anti-semitism in the party.

Councillor Childs’s tweet is no longer available but Mr Kyle responded: “Imagine if her career was lived by your example. She’d have voted for the minimum wage but run a sweat shop, banned fox hunting but worn fur, banned landmines but owned shares in an arms company

“Luckily though she’s an example of someone who lives her values not just preaches them

“Another reading of your tweet: she was loyal to Labour. She never once broke the whip.

“Regardless, your hypocrisy deems you unfit to judge her. But more prescient, you have so far proven unfit to follow in the footsteps of the person who was deselected to make way for you.”

Mr Kyle was referring to former Queen’s Park councillor Dan Chapman, who Councillor Childs succeeded in the ward and as chair of the Children, Young People and Skills Committee.

Councillor Childs has, though, been defended by the city’s other Labour MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who said that Councillor Childs had one child at Roedean on a scholarship and another at a local state school, adding: “Just like I want to abolish private dentists, I don’t condemn those using them. 20 per cent of secondary kids go private in Brighton. I don’t condemn parents. I want to incorporate those schools into state.”

A former Hove Labour council candidate, Darryl Telles, had started a petition calling on Councillor Childs to stand down, which he updated last night with news of the pending resignation.

He said: “I’m really glad Councillor Childs has decided to resign. Unfortunately he was becoming the story instead of the excellent council campaign to stop the privatisation of schools in the city.

“Now we should focus on that and ensure we do the best we can for all the parents, pupils and staff involved.”

ShareTweetShareSendSendShare

Comments 10

  1. Martha Gunn says:
    4 years ago

    Why hasn’t he resigned from the Council?
    He misled the members who selected him.
    He misled the voters who elected him.
    He misled the Labour Group.
    He misled Platts.
    Time to go Comrade Childs.

    Reply
  2. Valerie says:
    4 years ago

    I think this is dreadful! There is a WORLD of difference between deeply traditional public schools (a reg charity) and Academies & Govt supported Free schools run as businesses. And as he has children in both State & public schools, he is in the privileged position of being able to understand and use the good from each system to inform his judgment.

    He should stay as Chair. Grow up everyone & be grateful that there are choices in this country that provide a variety of options (including grammars) for what suits individual needs.

    If it was a Montessori, Steiner or other creative system like the Royal Music or similar specialist school you’d not complain.

    Class snobbery is holding this country back. Jack it in! On both sides!

    Reply
  3. MegA says:
    4 years ago

    Good… no place for hypocrites. She should resign his seat as well. His lack of judgement precludes him from being suitable for any office.

    Reply
  4. A L Brighton says:
    4 years ago

    It’s good he had resigned.

    But why not now? Why wait?

    And it’s attroctious that he won’t even acknowledge the problem. By claiming the resignation is about work load, he is taking the electorate for fools.

    People may have had more respect for him had he acknowledged the resignation was to help Labour out of the mess as he had become the story. He wouldn’t even have had to admit being hypocritical with that.

    But instead he ignores everything and invents some other reason. How low can these Momentum councillors go?

    We also have to question the council leader Nancy Platys. We need to know what she knew about this before appointing him. If she knew then it looks bad for her judgement. If she didn’t, then why not? What backgrounds checks have been done on the suitability of senior councillors? What other skeletons are waiting to come out?

    Why, also, did she refuse to act sooner and sack him when the issue broke? We are left with many questions about her ability to lead.

    Reply
  5. David Lepper says:
    4 years ago

    It is a matter for him and his family if they believe they have good reasons to send one of their children to a private, fee- paying school. I know people whose children have special needs which can be better met in such a school than in the local state sector. But as a Labour Councillor he must have known that this would be an embarrassment at least if he took a lead position on education in the Council. If he did not recognise that it suggests he has a worrying lack of political judgement. If he realised it would be embarrassing but hoped he could get away with it…well, people will decide what that says about him.
    The wider question is whether or not the Labour leader knew about his education choices for his daughter. If she did and still appointed him maybe he’s not the only one who should consider their position.

    Reply
    • Nicky Easton says:
      4 years ago

      Absolutely this

      Reply
  6. Martha Gunn says:
    4 years ago

    David is right.
    There needs to be an enquiry into the role of Platts in these events.
    And why has Childs erected this barricade of detail and excuses to cover his tracks?
    And not just come clean, apologised and resigned from the Council.
    Complicating and confusing the issues means that this will just go on and on.
    The only end to this is his resignation.
    This saga is far from over.

    Reply
  7. Christopher Hawtree says:
    4 years ago

    It looks like being a hot August politically. I foresee a Queen’s Park by-election, as well as campaigning for the General Election.

    Reply
  8. Martha Gunn says:
    4 years ago

    The sage Hawtree is often right in these matters.
    The Childs fiasco can only end in his quitting the Council.
    Everyone is astonished he hasn’t gone already.
    The longer he clings on, the worse it will become.

    Reply
  9. Pingback: How Momentum Failed Labour – And Brighton And Hove – Warren Morgan's blog

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Most read

Sinkhole opens up in The Lanes

Seafront café can be rebuilt with indoor seating

Montreal Arms scaffolding comes down

Brighton car park can be turned into floodlit all-weather football pitches

Councillors to visit bowls club before deciding revamp plan

Large blaze breaks out in Brighton

Brighton police seize 1kg of cocaine at campsite

With reluctance, we had to cancel Brighton Carnival, says council chief

Brighton i360 given permission for shipping containers to host virtual cricket

Modern classrooms to replace old huts at college in Brighton

Arts and Culture

  • All
  • Music
  • Theatre
‘LaLaLa It’s The Good Life’ for Audiobooks – Brighton gig report

‘LaLaLa It’s The Good Life’ for Audiobooks – Brighton gig report

9 June 2023
Glastonwick festival review

Glastonwick festival review

8 June 2023
Millie Manders & The Shutup announce Brighton gig as part of UK tour

Millie Manders & The Shutup announce Brighton gig as part of UK tour

7 June 2023
Brighton Carnival cancelled

Brighton Carnival cancelled

4 June 2023
Load More

Sport

  • All
  • Brighton and Hove Albion
  • Cricket
Sussex Sharks open T20 Blast with a win

Surrey demolish Sussex Sharks in T20 Blast at Hove

by Will Symons
9 June 2023
0

Sussex 134 all out Surrey 258-6 Surrey win by 124 runs In a commanding batting display, Surrey hit their highest...

Bowls club faces rematch with planners over proposed revamp

Councillors to visit bowls club before deciding revamp plan

by Sarah Booker-Lewis - local democracy reporter
8 June 2023
0

Councillors have agreed to visit a bowls club so that they can find out more about the effects on neighbours...

Sussex Sharks open T20 Blast with a win

Sussex Sharks show bite in T20 thriller at Lord’s

by Jon Batham
8 June 2023
0

Middlesex 177-5 Sussex 181-8 Sussex won by four runs Stephen Eskinazi’s 94 proved in vain as Middlesex went down by...

Brighton and Hove Albion’s World Cup-winning midfielder joins Liverpool

Brighton and Hove Albion’s World Cup-winning midfielder joins Liverpool

by Frank le Duc
8 June 2023
1

Brighton and Hove Albion have sold their World Cup-winning Argentina international Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool as widely expected. The...

Load More
July 2019
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Jun   Aug »
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy
  • Complaints
  • Ownership, funding and corrections
  • Ethics
  • T&C

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Opinion
  • Arts and culture
    • Theatre
  • Sport
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Contact

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.