Schools Minister mocked on social media after refusing to recite his times tables while launching tougher maths tests
A Conservative minister has been roundly mocked on social media after refusing to answer maths questions during live TV interviews this morning. The Minister of State for School Standards, Nick Gibb MP, was doing the rounds in TV studios to promote new, tougher multiplication tests being rolled out in primary schools across the country.
The new assessments for primary school children have been criticised by the National Association of Head Teachers and other teaching unions, who have described the policy as “hugely disappointing”.
Gibb will not have helped his cause today after refusing to answer a simple maths question on Good Morning Britain out of fear of embarrassment. Ironically, his non-answer will have caused enough embarrassment for him already after getting skewered by GMB host Jeremy Kyle this morning.
https://twitter.com/GMB/status/963670232886804480
After being asked what eight times nine is, Gibb simply said:
“I’m not going to get into this, I’ve learned through bitter experience never to answer these kinds of questions on live television.”
“I’m very tempted to, but I’m not going to.”
“No eight year old or nine year old would be doing it on live television.” It’s safe to say that Gibb’s car-crash interview was ridiculed on social media, especially after he refused to answer maths questions on another interview with Sky News straight afterwards.
https://twitter.com/rob_kelsall/status/963662418185465857
https://twitter.com/CharlotteHawkns/status/963668099219279873
https://twitter.com/jessicaelgot/status/963698991501279232
https://twitter.com/Nicholas_D_Mead/status/963700750215012352
https://twitter.com/ciannotseean/status/963697681687306240
Thanks for the laughs, Nick. We'll send you an abacus in the post.
Become An Evolve Politics Subscriber
Your subscriptions go directly into paying our writers a standard fee for every article they produce. So if you want to help us stay truly independent, please think about subscribing. We literally couldn't function without the support of our fantastic readers.
[button color="" size="large" type="round" target="" link="http://evolvepolitics.com/support-us/"]Subscribe[/button]
Or a One-Off Donation to Evolve Politics
If you don't want to subscribe, but still want to contribute to our project, you can make a one-off donation via the donate button below. All your donations go directly to our writers for their work in exposing injustice, inequality and unfairness.
[button color="" size="large" type="round" target="" link="https://www.paypal.me/evolvepolitics/"]Donate[/button]