Bribes to suppress speech

British government schools that were quietly taken over by Muslim extremists started easing out non-Muslim teachers.  When the teachers complained, the councils that ran the school paid the teachers serious money to hush it all up

Teachers forced out of three schools at the centre of the Trojan Horse investigation were prevented from raising concerns because of gagging agreements.  One former staff member at a school caught up in the scandal told the BBC that compromise agreements were being routinely used to silence teachers who were being forced out of their jobs.  The unnamed teacher said: “It’s quite clear what the compromise agreement says. It’s clear that I should not speak out about it to anybody or show the agreement to anybody.”

Peter Clarke, the former head of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism branch, also raised concerns about the inappropriate use of compromise agreements in the last of the inquiry reports published this week.  His report found the practice was used at three schools, the first time the extent of such agreements has been detailed.

Mr Clarke, who was commissioned in April by then Education Secretary Michael Gove to investigate allegations of the Trojan Horse plot, said: "Birmingham City Council should review all compromise agreements signed with head teachers in the last five years to consider whether they were appropriate and whether Birmingham City Council should have done more to exercise their duty of care."

Compromise agreements are often used to avoid former staff from bringing damaging employment tribunals against an employer and are often accompanied with a substantial payment in return for their silence.

Mr Mahmood said that former teachers, heads and governors should be allowed to give evidence to the inquiries into claims of a plot by Muslim hardliners to infiltrate Birmingham schools, without risking their pay offs or pensions.

He said: “A number of people I have spoken to are afraid to come forward because they have signed these gagging orders.

He also criticised some teaching unions for allowing members to sign compromise agreements while ignoring more serious concerns they were raising.

Rob Kelsall, senior regional officer with the National Association of Head Teachers, welcomed the Clarke report and said it was time to draw a line under "a five-month ordeal" for senior teachers. He said the city council had "failed in its duty of care to head teachers" in failing to tackle the Trojan Horse issues.

SOURCE