Top bods at the National Union of Teachers could not contain their excitement after assistant secretary Arthur Jarman collected the prize for “best recruitment materials” at the Trades Union Congress’s media awards.
Mightily prestigious though the awards are, the Diary was bemused to be bombarded with phone calls from senior figures about the honour.
Then we discovered the identity of the man who presented the award: one Nigel de Gruchy, current president of the TUC and the man who did more than any other to frustrate NUT recruitment efforts while head of its biggest rival, the National Union of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers. Mr Jarman was ecstatic: “I told Nigel two things made me happy: firstly, to be receiving the award and, secondly, to be receiving it from him.”
Mr de Gruchy, who substantially expanded the NASUWT membership at the expense of the NUT during his time in charge, was in sarcastic mood when we talked to him about the awards: “It was the highlight of my career. I was also able to give an award to the NASUWT for best website. It was one thing on top of the other. I couldn’t contain my excitement.”