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Daily Star takes hilarious swipe at “A grade clowns” following exam chaos

The Daily Star splashed a picture of Gavin Williamson in a dunce hat alongside ‘Boris the clown’ on its front page this morning.

It comes as the government faces mounting pressure over its handling of the exam crisis, with pupils complaining they have been let down.

A-level results day descended in chaos yesterday as 39.1 per cent of teachers’ estimates for pupils in England were adjusted down by one grade or more.

The downgrades – amounting to some 280,000 entries – were enacted as the nation’s education officials grappled with the vexing issue of how to determine results in a year in which exams were cancelled due to coronavirus.

Dunce hat

Education Secretary Williamson has faced heavy criticism following a frenzied results day.

He is pictured in a dunce hat on the Daily Star’s front page, which was once used to discipline pupils for mischievous misdemeanours.

Ridicule

It’s not the first time the Daily Star has led with ridicule on its front pages.

Last month it mocked Boris Johnson’s decision to nominate Jo Johnson for a peerage with ‘honour for every brother’ front page.

In May it provided a free “Do whatever the hell you want” mask in the paper, bearing Dominic Cummings’ face which can be used to get out of most sticky situations.

And following the local lockdown in Leicester the paper provided a similar cut out for people wanting to escape the city.

Related: New powers to tackle coronavirus mask refusers to come in

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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