Reform UK has condemned the “marxist” head of the National Education Union after he vowed to put schools on the frontline in the fight against the party’s rise. Daniel Kebede, who was elected to the top post in 2023, issued the new pledge as he said schools have already “become a bit of a battleground for Reform”.
He told The House magazine: “I would like to see all education workers, really, in a trade union, to ensure that we can mount an appropriate defence if needs be.” It came after Reform’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, told the party’s conference last September that schools are becoming “indoctrination camps” under the leadership of hard-left teachers. While Lee Anderson added that a Reform government would “root out” teachers who are “brainwashing” children.
Mr Kebede has now said he has “real concerns around a Reform government, artificial intelligence, Farage’s links to Elon Musk – the Trumpians essentially”.
He also blasted Labour for their fresh attempts to crack down on mass migration, warning it only “emboldens Reform, rather than really defeats them and their ideas.”
“Year on year, we’re seeing an increase in racism, racist incidents on the ground,” he added.
Responding to the hard-left union baron’s latest attack, a Reform UK spokesman hit back: “Mr Kebede is a self-declared Marxist with a history of supporting far left causes.
“A Reform UK government will go to war with the National Education Union and the other leftwing teaching unions.”
Just a few weeks ago, Reform UK had a furious bust up with the NEU after teachers were revealed to be equating their party with the Nazis in political education material.
In November it was revealed that staff at the Orion group of academies in south London had been using pictures of Richard Tice’s face to exemplify “extremist” ideology.
Earlier this month Mr Yusuf condemned hard-left teachers for pushing their political biases onto kids, as new stats showed 82% of educators in the NEU support left-wing parties.
Mr Yusuf told GB News: “What we need to do is make it crystal clear that indoctrination in this manner cannot happen.
“And then you can argue, how would you define that? Well, I think having a sign that says ‘far right’ and having Nigel lean in alongside Adolf Hitler, I think most reasonable people would agree that is indoctrination.
“It’s not like we’re expecting teachers to have no political views. We’re talking about indoctrination.”
In his interview with The House magazine, Mr Kebede revealed that a poll of NEU members showed that teachers are becoming even more left-wing.
Support for Labour has collapsed among staff by 70% since the general election, while a plurality now support the Green Party.
