Panel member in Christian teacher case receives formal warning

A panel member in an employment tribunal case involving a Christian teacher has received a proper warning for misconduct over comments he made on social media.

The employment tribunal was hearing a case brought by the teacher, who can’t be named for legal reasons, against a primary school and Nottinghamshire County Council. She was suspended for refusing to affirm the gender identity of a biologically femal pupil and was later sacked for gross misconduct after sharing information concerning the child along with her lawyers. 

She was claiming unfair dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of her Christian beliefs when the case collapsed in March over comments discovered to have been made on social media by Jed Purkis, a former GMB union officer. 

In one post, he likened Tory supporters to a “tumour”. In response to a different user’s post suggesting that only atheists be in public office, he responded, “Damn right, you will not catch us killing within the name of our non-god.” The posts were public on the time of the trial but have since been made private. 

After they got here to light, the panel members, including the judge, recused themselves from the case. 

A ruling this week from the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said that the recusal of the panel had come “at significant cost and inconvenience to the parties and the general public purse”.

Purkis’ online comments had “called into query his impartiality, integrity and propriety as a judicial office holder” while sitting on a “strongly disputed and politically sensitive case”.

The ruling said that “judges should concentrate on the danger of undermining trust and confidence within the judiciary by expressing, or appearing to endorse, views which could solid doubt on their objectivity”.

It reads, “Mr Purkis explained that somewhat than an attack on organised religion his tweet was intended as a light-hearted comment on the misuse of faith by politicians to fuel conflict.

“He fully accepted that his intention was unclear within the comment and open to misinterpretation and he offered his apologies for the expense and any potential disrepute that his actions caused to the Tribunal Service.”

It concludes, “The Senior President of Tribunals and the Lord Chancellor agreed with advice from the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office and decided Mr Purkis’s actions amounted to judicial misconduct. In issuing Mr Purkis with a proper warning, they took into consideration his explanation and apology.”

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting the teacher in her case, said the incident pointed to “a scarcity of coaching and scrutiny of the judges and panel members sitting on these vital cases”, and was “the tip of the iceberg of anti-Christian bias throughout the judiciary and trade unions”.

“For a few years now we have experienced bias within the courtroom and in subsequent rulings and this case has revealed and exposed it,” she said. 

“You cannot have a panel presiding over a serious case involving a Christian who has lost their profession due to their beliefs, that features panel members who appear to carry significant prejudice against Christians and conservative beliefs. They often appear to lack any understanding of what it means to be an individual of religion.

“While we’re pleased to have exposed this, justice delayed is justice denied, not only for [the teacher] but for vulnerable children who’re being harmed by transgender ideology.

“[Her] story exposes the confusion and untruths being embedded in primary schools over human sexuality and identity that are developing right into a public health crisis.”