A Renewal hearing will now take place in the High Court in London, to decide whether permission will be granted to Judicial review the decision of the Chief Deputy District Judge at Westminster Magistrates, not to summons Gavin Williamson to answer criminally in Crown Court. in regard to allegations of Misconduct in Public Office.
Permission was not granted on the papers but importantly the Judge reading the arguments has allowed scope for what is known as a Renewal hearing, to argue in person why permission should be granted.
The hearing will be focused on the decision of the previous Judge, who had agreed that there may on the face of it, be evidence to prove Gavin Williamson may have failed to take necessary steps to protect children from harm and prevent potential deaths. He disagreed though that there was evidence of any corrupt motive or misconduct of a level high enough to cross the very high criminal threshold, where acting recklessly and deliberately knowing it would likely result in harm amongst other things in this case, would need to be proven.
This will be the first time the allegations will have been explored openly in public and last Monday will have been the first time the Government will have received notification, that this will now definitely take place and was possibly the last thing they would have expected, especially with the Mainstream Media having played their part in failing to hold them to account and keeping the truth from the Public.
It was interesting that as part of the reshuffle last week following that notification, that not only was Gavin Williamson sacked but only one of the 6 Ministers remained in position in a completely revamped DfE. With Nick Gibb also being sacked as Schools Minister after 16 years.
That doesn’t mean there’s any link between the clear out and the hearing but the Government will now be fully aware that the indictment against Gavin Williamson also alleges that the failures to act involved other Ministers in the DfE who it is alleged may have played a part in a cover up.
Whatever is decided in the High Court. Nothing changes the fact, that complaints of failures to take steps to prevent children from being harmed and losing their lives due to bullying, physical and sexual violence in Schools, that have been acknowledged by the London Metropolitan Police and now the Courts as legitimate, have not moved a single MP in Parliament to do anything to protect millions of children in schools right across the UK.
Mr Williamson may eventually be the one put on trial but whatever happens, every MP including our Prime Minister, at the end of this process will have some serious questions to answer.
We now await a listing date, which we expect to be sometime in October but will update everyone when we know more.
