'My Tory views mean schools will not employ me'

Career changes are often tricky things to navigate, and the whole process is undoubtedly made more challenging when you are in the public eye.

This is the reality facing many former MPs, following July's general election, who before entering politics had careers in a variety of different professions.

One former MP and teacher, Jonathan Gullis, says he hasn't had a single job interview in the three months since losing his seat in the Stoke-on-Trent constituency.

It's something he puts down to his political views being a turn off for head teachers who might ordinarily have offered him a contract.

Mr Gullis puts the refusal to accept his applications down to his short-lived role in the Conservative Party.

“I think that in some schools, with some teachers, my views won’t be something that is popular,” he said.

He added that not all teachers felt that way, but overall he believes the profession had a centre-left political leaning that does not match his own.

Mr Gullis said the teaching profession felt more tolerant of a wide range of views when he first stood up at the front of a classroom.

“When I left the profession, I felt it had gone very much in a different direction," he told the BBC.

"[It] had actually become a much more hostile environment for someone who was maybe more centre-right, conservative leaning.”

Mr Gullis is also worried some teachers are pushing their own political beliefs onto pupils in their classrooms.

Such conversations were better for parents and should be discussed outside the classroom, he believes.

“I think there are too many teachers who are willing to be political activists in the classroom, pushing their own views upon children," he says.

Mr Gullis has been a member of the Conservative Party since the age of 18 and was himself a political campaigner whilst working as a teacher, prior to his election in 2019.

However, he said he had carefully agreed with his bosses about how he would manage his role in the party, ensuring separation between his role as a teacher and his role as a politician.

He understands there would be some pupils and parents who disagreed with his political views, and that this could cause friction if he were to return to the profession.

In the meantime, he has enjoyed one-off TV presenting roles, he said, but maintained he was not hoping to pursue a media career.

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