Martin Daubney fumes at treatment of Batley teacher despite ‘millions’ being given to asylum seekers – ‘Why can’t we take care of him?’

Martin Daubney fumes at treatment of Batley teacher despite ‘millions’ being given to asylum seekers – ‘Why can’t we take care of him?’

WATCH NOW: Martin Daubney fumes at the treatment of the former Batley teacher

GB News
Georgia Pearce

By Georgia Pearce


Published: 26/03/2024

- 18:19

The teacher was forced into hiding following the incident in 2021

GB News host Martin Daubney has raged at the treatment of the Batley Grammar School teacher three years on, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spoken out about the teacher's situation.

This comes as a teacher at the school was forced into hiding in 2021, after showing their class a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed during a religious studies lesson.


Sunak's official spokesperson has said the treatment of the former teacher is "unacceptable", and revealed it is "partly why we are setting out plans to tackle extremism".

The spokesperson also said the teacher should "absolutely" be getting more support, and made clear it is "unacceptable for any group or individuals to set out to disrupt the provision of education or to intimidate staff or students".

Martin Daubney

Martin Daubney hit out at the treatment of the Batley Grammar School teacher

GB News

Campaigner and friend of the teacher, Paul Halloran, has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to support the teacher after it was revealed that the Government has offered them no compensation after going into hiding.

Supporters have raised almost £100,000 since the page was set up, and GB News host Martin Daubney has revealed he is "incredibly emotional" to see the growing support, including from GB News viewers.

In conversation with GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope, Martin revealed that the spokesperson for Rishi Sunak calling the treatment "unacceptable" is a "political breakthrough", and praised them for "acknowledging the problem".

Christopher explained: "Dame Sara Khan has met with this individual multiple times. He's now got PTSD, he feels cut adrift of any support structures. Dame Sara said this was somebody who was hounded out of his job and forced into hiding for teaching a lesson in our country in the 21st century."

Batley Grammar School

Crowds of protesters gathered outside of the school in the days following the incident

PA

Martin thanked Christopher for bringing the situation to the government's attention and admitted he was "very emotional" about it.

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Martin told Christopher: "Thank you for raising this, it matters a huge amount. It really gets to me that this guy was just thrown under a bus and totally abandoned politically by his school, by his union, and by everybody in that community.

"Apart from a few brave souls like Paul Halloran who stood up for him, started that crowd funder which has got through to him and kept him sane and alive."

Martin argued that there appears to be more Government support for housing asylum seekers in the UK than supporting those forced out by extremist views, raging: "If we can find millions and millions of pounds to house asylum seekers, why can't we find money to take care of somebody who so richly deserves it?

"I would there to be some sort of compensation package, some sort of reintegration package. But on a positive note, it seems at last that the bubble has been burst and people are starting to listen. And so we can only hope that he gets something that he deserves."

Martin Daubney

Martin questioned the lack of support for the teacher despite giving 'millions' to asylum seekers

GB News

Yesterday, Dame Sara Khan, who authored the recent report into extremism in the UK, told GB News that there have been "lots of teachers who have experienced threats and abuse", but the Government is unaware of the "full scale" of the problem as the Department for Education doesn't collect data.

She warned that rising hate crime could "erode our freedoms" and teaching unions have told her similar incidents are becoming a "growing problem" in the UK.

Khan said of the Batley teacher: "It's not just impacted him, it's impacted his family, his children.

"As I write in the report, he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because of what happened to him at the time of the incident, which is exactly three years ago today."

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