Chris Grayling has been a minister since 2010, and in the cabinet continuously from 2012. In that time, and even before, he has developed a reputation for mishaps – his opponents would term it incompetence. Thanks to his propensity for failure, critics popularised the monicker “Failing Grayling” as sketchwriters such as the Guardian’s John Crace added to his woe. Here are some of Grayling’s more infamous moments.
2010: B&Bs and gay couples
Shortly before the 2010 general election Grayling, then the shadow home secretary, was recorded telling an audience at a thinktank that people who ran bed and breakfasts in their homes should “have the right” to turn away gay couples. He later apologised.
2014: books in prisons
Grayling became possibly the first minister to be condemned by both prison reformers and writers including Philip Pullman and Mark Haddon for banning books being sent to prisoners. Later that year it was declared unlawful by the high court, and when Michael Gove took over the justice brief he reversed the move – as he did with much of Grayling’s programme.
2016: domestic violence victims in court
Swingeing cuts to legal aid led lawyers to claim victims of domestic violence were being left having “to face their abuser in court” without representation after Grayling pushed through reforms in 2013 despite furious protests from women’s groups. In 2016, however, the court of appeal declared that the changes to the rules on obtaining support were legally flawed and “invalid”. Months later Labour claimed that thousands of victims were still waiting for the government to scrap the law requiring people to produce evidence that they were abused within the last five years.
2016: takes out a cyclist
In July 2016 Grayling, who had spent a year as leader of the Commons, was moved to transport. As transport secretary an unspoken part of the job is to not personally harm any transport users – but within three months he managed to do just this. Footage emerged of Grayling suddenly opening the door of his ministerial car outside parliament, and knocking over a man riding past. He checked the rider was OK, but left the scene without giving his details.
2018: the rail crisis
Grayling was arguably unfortunate to be transport secretary amid a meltdown on some services caused by both botched changes to timetabling and longer-term issues with individual franchises. But it’s fair to say he’s not exactly got a grip on the problem. The crisis wreaked misery on tens of thousands of commuters as timetable changes saw hundreds of journeys cancelled and delayed throughout the summer as MPs bemoaned the effects of the chaos in their constituencies. Meanwhile, the East Coast Mainline – which was privatised in 2015 even though it was running a healthy profit – was renationalised in May under Grayling’s watch in an ideological blow to the government after private companies were unable to run it at a profit. Grayling – who conceded this week he is not a “specialist in rail matters” – narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in the Commons in June.
