Is this the mother of all calling out - Katherine Birbalsingh

[DramaFatigue]

Katherine Birbalsingh has done the mother of all calling out and I can't help but sit here with my jaw on the kitchen table in awe.

She has written a 4-page open letter to Sir Kerr Starmer calling out Jess Phillip's behaviour online. Whilst I don't always agree with KB's methods of the school she runs, I do think that Jess Phillips behaviour towards her is shocking and unbefitting of someone who could be running the country. JP should resign TBH.

https://news.sky.com/story/headteacher-katharine-birbalsingh-brands-labour-mp-jess-phillips-social-media-posts-racist-and-bullying-12913139

Completely relevant. She tried to claim that the photo essentially landed by accident because it was a GIF, but that was clearly a lie. When you're calling someone out, you really don't want to be telling lies. And when someone as famous as Tina Turner dies, it really is a bit odd that, out of all the photos available, she chose to show one with her ex husband rather than simply going for one of TT on her own.

Even I know what Ike Turner looks like!

Why on earth wouldn't she recognise him? It's well known that they used to work together, that they were married, and that he was violent. Jess Phillips is also known for her stance against domestic violence, and the reason why she joined in the discussion is obvious from her post.

I don't know JP's taste in music, she might be Tina Turner's number one fan for all I know but quite apart from that she is the shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding so commenting on a photo of Tina Turner and her abuser with the caption "good times" is perfectly reasonable.

Well you certainly do now! Have to say he’s more recognisable than she is. Looks like ia photo from the 1950s. Odd choice for a Tina Turner fan. I really don’t think JP really needed to get involved, despite her parliamentary role. But that letter really is something else!

And if Kb was a fan she'd know it was Ike. So we're back to that!

Why is she doing a media tour about this whole Twitter spat?
She has appeared on GB News, and Talk TV?

I also find it odd that she wrote this letter 1 month after Tina Turner died...
Something is just not genuine here.

She’s an attention seeker. I don’t think there’s any more to it than that

Plenty of parents with schoolchildren here on Mumsnet - it’s be interesting to know how many of your headteachers have Twitter profiles with 134,000 followers?

As a nurse/public sector worker I had no social media profile under my real identity, to protect my privacy and the chance of being doxxed. I look at the Twitter accounts of my nurse/doctor former colleagues and they are benign, uncontroversial, and entirely relevant to their positions/professions. I have no doubt some of them have their own anonymous accounts where they can say anything they like (within the T&Cs), but most professionals behave professionally, with an eye on their obligations to their professional code of conduct, rather than get into attention-seeking spats with high-profile users.

I bet KB increased her followers because of the JP episode, unfortunately I can no longer view Twitter to confirm my suspicions.

Furthermore, if I had used official hospital headed paper to write to the LOTO, I’d have been disciplined for it.

This is the same woman who argued that pupils who claimed a teacher was racist towards them should be ignored:

“Yes I am being serious”, she wrote, when pushed for answers. “If child says teacher is being racist, back the teacher. Whatever the child says, back the teacher.

“If you don’t, you are letting the child down and allowing them to play you for a fool.”

And yet when JP makes a comment with no hint of racism she immediately plays that card.

She's just awful. No doubt angling for a GB news slot when her role as Tory party darling comes to an end.

I'm going to massively fence-sit here. Birbalsingh made a mistake, Philips correct to call her on it, Birbalsingh correct to apologise.
I guess everyone then had an extra glass or whatever because...
Philips way out of line to impugn Birbalsingh's professionalism and way of running a school, she was doing it only to try to score political points with the twitterati.
Birbalsingh way out of line to say it was racist, it was clearly about politics rather than race.

So now all sides get to be offended and say how awful each woman is, instead of staying focused on Ike having been a truly evil person.

Exactly!
This is probably her new grift.
With the Tories most likely going to lose the next election badly, she needs to stay in the limelight!
I guess she has found a new job - having spats with prominent Labour MPs to get attention. She knows what she is doing!

Agree with this.

But as head of a free school, isn’t she her own employer?

And if Kb was a fan she'd know it was Ike

KB said she didn't know - which is a more plausible explanation than JP's insinuation that KB chose the photograph because she supports domestic violence.

why would you post that particular picture when there are about ten thousand others?

She said she thought she was (re)tweeting a series of photographs sent to her by a friend.

Maybe she is, but she still got into a personal spat on Twitter and then turned it into an official school complaint to the LOTO. There must be someone she has to answer to, surely? What about school governors - are they happy with KB dragging their school into disrepute? How is that good for staff and pupils?

Obviously I am politically attuned with JP and morally repulsed by KB, but that doesn’t negate my point about how unprofessional she is as a high-profile headteacher.

Looking at the website there’s a media section - it’s mad.

https://michaela.education/our-media/

And in that sense I mean mad that the website has so many videos of the HT - it’s really quite narcissistic

Iwasafool
I don't know JP's taste in music, she might be Tina Turner's number one fan for all I know but quite apart from that she is the shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding so commenting on a photo of Tina Turner and her abuser with the caption "good times" is perfectly reasonable.

I don't think Jess Phillip's comments were 'perfectly reasonable' at all.

No, but you wouldn’t as you’re a dyed in the wool conservative and brexiteer who loathes the Labour Party.

That’s exactly what KB is, a narcissist, like Trump and Johnson and Farage, like Stockton Rush. Drunk on the fame and recognition, requiring regular hot takes to keep her Twitter profile high. Trending is trending, after all, whether negative or positive, and let’s face it, trending for negative reasons is much easier. Most of us love a good bun fight, especially when we aren’t involved in it.

People clearly loathe KB on here.

Whether due to politics, personality or other

I can see why she feels subject to abuse generally

Westfacing · 02/07/2023 08:20

I can't understand why Birbalsingh is so het up - maybe I'm missing something? I'm not on Twitter but it looks like Phillips questioned the inclusion of Ike in a photo, which seems reasonable to me.

Writing a 4-page letter to Starmer is over the top - not a good example to set to her pupils by getting so steamed up on social media.

She's written a Russian Novel of interpretation, in response to a few comments. She's really used her imagination, as none of it was said.

In my case it’s mostly just because she’s an arse.