{"id":86590,"date":"2025-10-10T07:29:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T06:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=86590"},"modified":"2025-10-10T09:08:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T08:08:27","slug":"nigel-farages-declaration-of-war-on-teachers-is-a-war-on-compassion-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/10\/10\/nigel-farages-declaration-of-war-on-teachers-is-a-war-on-compassion-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Farage\u2019s declaration of war on teachers is a war on compassion, empathy and kindness"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to The Guardian<\/a>, Nigel Farage, speaking at an event at a private Christian college in Michigan, USA, has accused teachers in the UK of \u201cpoisoning our kids\u201d and predicted that they would go on strike \u201cvery quickly\u201d after a Reform UK election win.<\/p>\n

They added that he claimed that the \u201cMarxist left\u201d is \u201cnow in control of our education system\u201d and that teachers are \u201ctelling little Johnny, who\u2019s eight, who is black, that he is a victim and little Oliver, who is white, who is eight, that he is an oppressor\u201d when, of course, they are doing no such thing. They are explaining that everyone is equal, that past oppression was wrong and should not be repeated, which is entirely different.<\/p>\n

Farage did, of course, provide no evidence to support his claims, but Farage\u2019s words matter. They are not just the casual provocations of a populist. They are part of a wider campaign which dresses up grievance as patriotism and bigotry as if it were common sense. It is an attempt to make empathy itself look like subversion.<\/p>\n

The false accusation<\/b><\/p>\n

What Farage is really attacking is not Marxism, which he must know that almost no one in the teaching profession espouses, but the idea that teachers should care.<\/p>\n

Teachers, quite reasonably, see children as human beings, with hopes, fears, and vulnerabilities shaped by the world around them. From my experience as a long-term school governor when I was in London, as a parent and as a friend of teachers, as well as in my role as an academic, teachers try to create spaces where all children can thrive, including those from families that have experienced discrimination or poverty. To recognise that disadvantage exists is not to \u201cpoison minds\u201d; it is simply to acknowledge reality.<\/p>\n

In this context, Christian teaching, which Farage often claims as the foundation of \u201cBritish values\u201d, demands precisely the compassion that the teachers he is condemning are showing. If he knew anything about Christianity (and it is pretty clear that he does not), he would know that the Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the Good Samaritan, and the injunction to love one\u2019s neighbour all affirm empathy for those whom society marginalises. The Christian commandment is not to \u201cdefend the powerful\u201d but \u201ccare for the weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

If, in that case, Farage truly believed in Christian principles, he would be praising teachers for embodying them, not vilifying them.<\/p>\n

A familiar pattern<\/b><\/p>\n

Instead, Farage\u2019s attack on education follows a pattern well established by the political right, in both Britain and the United States.<\/p>\n

First, they identify a group of professionals, whether they be teachers, doctors, judges, or civil servants,\u00a0 who serve the public rather than corporate or partisan interests.<\/p>\n

Second, they claim that these professional people are part of a \u201cwoke\u201d or \u201cMarxist\u201d conspiracy undermining what they describe as \"national values\".<\/p>\n

Third, they use this claim to justify dismantling the institutions that actually sustain a decent, democratic society.<\/p>\n

In particular, this is the white male Christian nationalist method that seeks to exclude from state concern anyone who does not conform to its narrow cultural and religious template. Its idea of \u201cfreedom\u201d is one where hierarchy and obedience replace understanding and critical thought.<\/p>\n

When Farage says he wants British education to look more like a US model favoured by the likes of J D Vance, he is not talking about free thinking. He is talking about indoctrination, which is the very thing he is accusing teachers of practising.<\/p>\n

What this reveals<\/b><\/p>\n

The reality is that behind Farage\u2019s rhetoric, there is fear: fear of diversity, fear of compassion, and fear of change.<\/p>\n

He senses, quite correctly, that younger generations no longer accept the moral and social hierarchies on which his politics depend. Gen Z students, as the article suggests he himself admits, are \u201cmore open to critical thinking.\u201d That openness terrifies him because it means they can see through the myths on which his brand of nationalism depends. So he does what demagogues always do: he blames educators, intellectuals, and institutions for the decline of an imagined moral order which is not actually happening.<\/p>\n

The real threat<\/b><\/p>\n

More than a million people work in UK schools. If the higher education sector is added in, as many work in education as probably work in the NHS. Some are teachers. Others are classroom assistants. And, of course, there are invaluable support staff in all schools. Together, they keep classrooms running, support children with learning difficulties (whose existence Farage by-and-large denies), and care for pupils\u2019 well-being as much as for their exam results. Their work is one of the most visible expressions of social solidarity that still exists in Britain.<\/p>\n

Farage\u2019s hostility to that solidarity is not accidental. It is the essence of the authoritarian project. By dividing society into \u201cpatriots\u201d and \u201ctraitors,\u201d \u201cwinners\u201d and \u201cvictims,\u201d \u201cteachers\u201d and \u201creal people,\u201d he seeks to destroy any collective sense of care.<\/p>\n

That is why he singles out the National Education Union and its leader, Daniel Kebede, who rightly described Farage\u2019s remarks as \u201cgrossly irresponsible.\u201d Kebede\u2019s union represents not ideology but decency and the belief that education should nurture curiosity and inclusion, and not fear and conformity.<\/p>\n

A choice about the country we wish to be<\/b><\/p>\n

Bizarrely, amongst all the nonsense he spouts, Farage insists he wants education to teach \u201ccritical thinking\u201d, but it is clear that he does so only on the condition that such teaching delivers conclusions that agree with his own prejudices. Real critical thought, however, begins with empathy: the capacity to imagine the experience of another person and to weigh evidence without fear.<\/p>\n

That is what I think most of our teachers are trying to instil. It is what sustains a functioning democracy. And it is what Farage, through his rhetoric of resentment and exclusion, most fears.<\/p>\n

The question his speech raises, then, is not about \u201cMarxist teachers\u201d or \u201cpoisoned minds.\u201d It is about whether we still value compassion as a national virtue, or whether we are willing to let it be redefined as a form of treachery.<\/p>\n

In that case, this is not a culture war about education. It is a moral war about the kind of society we wish to live in.<\/p>\n

If empathy and understanding are Marxist, then perhaps Britain could use a little more Marxism (not that I am one, and I have read a lot of Marx). At the very least, we could do with a lot more humanity, or maybe just a little more real Christian understanding, which Farage does not, in any way, understand.<\/p>\n

\n

Taking further action<\/b><\/p>\n

If you want to write a letter to your MP on the issues raised in this blog post, there is a ChatGPT prompt to assist you in doing so, with full instructions,\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n

One word of warning, though: please ensure you have the correct MP. ChatGPT can get it wrong.<\/p>\n

\n

Comments\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

When commenting, please take note of this blog\u2019s comment policy,\u00a0which is available here<\/a>. Contravening this policy will result in comments being deleted before or after initial publication at the editor\u2019s sole discretion and without explanation being required or offered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to The Guardian, Nigel Farage, speaking at an event at a private Christian college in Michigan, USA, has accused teachers in the UK of
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[215,14,204,211,16,203,214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-age-of-aggression","category-corruption","category-economic-justice","category-education","category-ethics","category-fascism","category-reform"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86590"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86606,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86590\/revisions\/86606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}