School cancelled Jewish MP's visit at 11th hour after just ONE parent complained

Susanna Siddell
Thu, 23 Apr 2026 18:46:35 +0000

A school cancelled a Jewish MP's visit at the 11th hour after just one parent complained, a report has revealed.

The education institution put off the planned drop-in from Damien Egan after pro-Palestine protesters and union members threatened to rally against the visit.

The Cabot Learning Federation (CLF) maintained the cancellation was over "safeguarding concerns" - but new information has revealed that it actually took just a complaint from one parent, whose family is in the Middle East, to call off the visit.

The disgruntled parent even threatened to absent the schoolchild from the day if the visit went ahead, sources told The Telegraph.

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They also demanded an urgent phone call with the Academy's headteacher to discuss the matter.

In an unredacted version of the 20-page-long report, a staff member complained about matters related to Mr Egan's Israeli wife, the paper added.

The MP is married to Yossi Felberbaum, an Israeli software developer at Google who served in the military, and has been provided with enhanced security as a result.

Throughout the document, there are 12 blacked-out parts - covering up which specific complaints drove the visit's cancellation.

The Telegraph reported that several of the censored parts did not include any individual identification - despite the CLF claiming otherwise.

The MP has since called for the unredacted report to be published and vowed to raise the matter with the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson.

Ex-headteacher Dame Joan McVittie oversaw the review into the incident on September 5 2025, which claimed there was no antisemitic culture in the academy.

"I thank Dame Joan McVittie for her work on this report," Mr Egan told The Telegraph.

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"I have seen the redacted version of the report that the Cabot Learning Federation Multi Academy Trust have released and would strongly encourage them to publish the complete version of the report.

"I will be writing to the Secretary of State to the same effect."

The Cabot Learning Federation told The Telegraph that redacted comments were only those which risked the identification of individuals.

A spokesman added: "They follow legal advice and were agreed in conjunction with the Department for Education [DfE] and Damien Egan – both of which had had sight of the unredacted version."

A Department for Education spokesman said: "We welcome Dame Joan McVittie's thorough and robust investigation and while no signs of antisemitic culture were found at this school or trust, the wider picture demands urgent action.

"Since October 7 2023, antisemitic incidents in educational settings have more than doubled. It's a national disgrace, and we will not look away from it.

"That is why we have commissioned an independent national review to strengthen how schools and colleges prevent, identify and respond to antisemitism and all forms of hate."

Outrage over the cancelled event was first stirred up after Communities Secretary Steve Reed disclosed the incident while addressing the Jewish Labour Movement's annual conference at the start of October.

"I have a colleague who is Jewish, who has been banned from visiting a school and refused permission to visit a school in his own constituency, in case his presence inflames the teachers," Mr Reed revealed.

"That is an absolute outrage," he declared.

"They will be called in, and they will be held to account for doing that, because you cannot have people with those kinds of attitudes teaching our children. You just can't have it," Mr Reed told Jewish News.