With his hands clenched and gaze fixed, it was a picture likely intended to show the education secretary’s steely determination to fix the exams fiasco.
But the image of Gavin Williamson, taken in his office after he announced a major reversal on A-level and GCSE grades, only served to trigger bewilderment – because of the whip positioned on the desk in front of him.
Williamson, who has faced calls to resign over the results crisis, confirmed on Monday that pupils in England could be graded on teacher assessments rather than a computer algorithm, two days after he had pledged “no U-turn, no change”.
Photo du jour: Education Secretary @GavinWilliamson in his office at the Dept for Education today after announcing a change in the way A-Level grades will be awarded. By Stefan Rousseau/PA pic.twitter.com/yI3ICFEMBR
— Stefan Rousseau (@StefanRousseau) August 17, 2020
The picture, posted on Twitter by Press Association photographer Stefan Rousseau, prompted Twitter users to reach for a deeper meaning.
Former Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, who defected to Change UK before joining the Liberal Democrats, tweeted: “So much immaturity & poor judgement summed up by the secretary of state for education #Williamson posing with a whip & a mug. In a crowded field, the most under-demoted of inadequates in government.”
Some suggested the picture was an attempt to convey a message that, given his previous role as chief whip under Theresa May, he knows where the bodies are buried and will not go quietly if he loses his place in the cabinet.
One caller to LBC on Tuesday elaborated on the theory: “The photo that was released yesterday is just a key example of them trolling us because that whip on the desk, with his little red book placed handily on it, is … a sign to say, ‘You come after me and I’m coming after you.’”
Why was Gavin Williamson photographed with a whip on his desk? This caller thinks it was a reminder to Tory MPs who might have called for his head that he used to be Chief Whip and he knows all their secrets.@mrjamesob | #GavinWilliamson pic.twitter.com/94s107wRun
— LBC (@LBC) August 18, 2020
The whip in question is understood to have been a gift from a friend of Williamson to mark his time as chief whip and was said to typically sit on his desk rather than having been placed there specifically for the purposes of the photo.
It’s not the only unexpected object kept by Williamson; he previously housed his pet tarantula in a glass tank on his desk.
