TALKS ABOUT THE TROJAN HORSE AFFAIR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
[The conclusion to John Holmwood and Therese O’Toole Countering Extremism in British Schools? The Truth about the Birmingham Trojan Horse Affair (Policy Press 20118) is available here].
For a detailed ‘explainer’ about the Trojan Horse affair and its implications, see here.
The Connected Sociologies Curriculum, lecture 3 in the series on British Citizenship and Rights, ‘The Birmingham Trojan Horse Affair‘ (John Holmwood).
Its connections with the parent protests of 2019 against LGBTQ+ teaching in Birmingham schools is discussed in ‘The Birmingham Trojan Horse Affair and Homo-Nationalism (and femo-nationalism, too)‘ (John Holmwood)
Prevent Watch Webinar, 17th December 2020. ‘The Trojan Horse affair exposed’. Prof John Holmwood in Conversation with Naeem Mian, QC. Introduced by Dr Layla Aitlhadj. Recording available here.
The Surviving Society Podcast: E124 John Holmwood The Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ Affair
Preventing Prevent, Cambridge, 11 August 2021: Liberalism, Multiculturalism and Religious Freedom
KEY MEDIA REPORTS
Many of the media stories are behind paywalls, but see:
Andrew Gilligan (June 15 2014) ‘Trojan Horse: how we revealed the truth behind the plot’ The Telegraph.
Chris Cook (28 April 2014 ‘Inside the Trojan Horse’ Chris Cook BBC Newsnight (this has interviews with witnesses who provided statements to the Clarke Report
OFFICIAL REPORTS BY AGENCIES OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION
OFSTED reports prior to 2014 for Oldknow and Park View Academy are no longer on the DfE website.
The OFSTED Inspection Report January 2012 in which Park View was awarded the highest score in all categories and judged outstanding is here. An interim Report from 2010 is here, a Full report from 2007 is here, and that from 2001 is here.
The reports show a consistent trajectory of improvement between 2001 and 2012. In addition, they show that it is false to claim that the school was not properly inspected between 2007 and 2014 is incorrect. It had a full inspection in 2012, carried out under Michael Gove’s new, ‘more rigorous’ inspection regime. Head of OFSTED, Sir Michael Wilshaw, claimed on its basis that all schools should be like Park View. Read about it here.
The OFSTED Report for March 2014 that put Park View into special measures is here.
The OFSTED Report for April 2014 for Oldknow with a similar consequences is here.
Education Funding Agency, May 2014, Review of Oldknow Academy.
Education Funding Agency, 9th June 2014, Review of Park View Education Trust.
THE INQUIRIES
Clarke, Peter (2014) Report into allegations concerning Birmingham schools arising from the ‘Trojan Horse’ letter. London, House of Commons. HC 576.
Kershaw, Ian (2014) Investigation Report: Trojan Horse Letter. Prepared for Birmingham City Council and published by Eversheds Ll.P.
THE COURT HEARINGS
Prior to the discontinuation of cases against the teachers, the judgement in a panel case against two junior teachers associated with Park View School was quashed by the High Court in October 2016 because of a failure of lawyers acting for the NCTL to discolse evidence. The judgement is here .
The Panel judgement in the case of the senior teachers led to the discontinuation of all cases in May 2017, again because of a failure to discose evidence and ‘serious impropriety’ on the part of solicitors acting for the NCTL. The Panel judgement is here.
HOW WITNESS STATEMENTS WERE CONSTRUCTED
When the misconduct hearings brought against the senior teachers collapsed, commentators who had adopted the government’s line were quick to declare that they had collapsed on a ‘technicality’ and that there was plenty of evidence against the teachers. The same commentators had also been outraged when witnesses to the Clarke Inquiry, who had been offered anonymity were required to testify. Here Andrew Faux QC (from The Reflective Practice), lead barrister in the defence of the senior leaders, explains why they were wrong and the serious breach of natural justice involved. A Barrister Explains.
TROJAN HORSE, THE PLAY
A play about about the Trojan Horse affair was developed by Helen Monks and Matt Woodhouse of LUNG theatre (in association with Leeds Playhouse). It was a verbatim play based on official reports, transcripts of the misconduct hearings and 200 hours of interviews with 86 individuals involved in the affair. The play stages this injustice in the words of its participants (though some characters are composites of interview material).
It was first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2018 where it won a Fringe First Award and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award. It completed two national tours in October-November 2019 and January-February 2020 with over 60 performances at 26 different venues, including a special performance of the play in Alum Rock, Birmingham, where the schools are located. A video about this performance is here:
On staging a play about the Trojan Horse affair by LUNG theatre, see:
John Holmwood, Helen Monks and Matt Woodhead (2020) ‘Writing Justice/ Performing Injustice: Reflections on Research, Publicity and the Birmingham Trojan Horse Affair’, Civic Sociology 1(1).
For a discussion of the play, see:
Julia Farrington, 22 January 2020, ‘Bringing the Story Home – Trojan Horse in Birmingham’, Index on Censorship.
For a discussion of the subversion of the techniques of radical theatre to serve Government ends, see: Keith McKenna, June 2021, ‘Prevent strategy funding Birmingham theatre‘ Red Pepper.
TROJAN HORSE, THE PODCAST
Serial together with the New ork Times published an eight-part series on the Trojan Horse affair in February 2022. It is available (together with transcripts) here.
It was widely criticsed in mainstream UK media, with Policy Exchane producing what they called a definitive account of the affair in rebuttal, The Trojan Horse Affair: A documentary record (December 2022).
For a response to Policy Exchange, see: (with Peter Oborne) ‘The Trojan Horse Affair: When ‘facts’ are contested who decides the truth‘, Middle East Eye, February 17, 2023.
MISCELLANEOUS
The Prime Minster’s speeches:
David Cameron (5 February 2011) ‘PM’s Speech at the Munich Security Conference’
David Cameron (14 February 2011) ‘PM’s Speech on Big Society’
Dame Louise Casey (5 December 5 2016). ‘The Casey Review: A Review into Opportunity and Integration’, An independent report for the Department of Communities and Local Government.
Nick Timothy’s Twitter Feed of ‘sourced facts’ (derived from Ofsted, EFA, Clarke, etc) against the ‘revisionist plot’ is available here.
For a discussion of Timothy’s proposal for an immigration policy based on the ‘similarity’ of migrant populations to the local white population, see:
John Holmwood (6 May 2020) ‘Viewpoint: White Nation Conservatism’ (Review of Nick Timothy, Remaking One Nation: The Future of Conservatism, Polity 2020). Discover Society.
John Holmwood (6 December 2017 ‘Focus: Liberal Anxiety and the Education of Muslim Children – A Tale of Two Schools’. Discover Society.
