Safe at School was advising and supporting Birmingham parents in their efforts to protect their children. On two occasions SPUC's Safe at School was prevented from holding a public meeting in Birmingham to inform parents of the content and nature of CHIPS.
As is well known, primary schools in Birmingham have been the subject of the so-called "Trojan Horse" plot - an alleged bid by hard line Islamists to take over some Birmingham schools.
During the annual conference of the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT), 1-3 May 2015, a headteacher of a Birmingham primary school said that the problems of Trojan Horse had "not gone away". This headteacher, who had been featured in the national press because CHIPS is taught in her school, made claims that teachers in Birmingham had received death threats and dead cats and dogs had been hung on school railings and thrown into some school playgrounds.
On Monday 4 May, the claims about dead animals and death threats made at the NAHT conference, were discussed on LBC (Leading Britain's Conversation) radio. The show's host, Nick Ferrari, asked Rob Kelsall of the NAHT who he thought was behind the incidents with dead animals. Mr Kelsall replied: “There is a group called the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child [sic] that has unfortunately been agitating parents in some parts of the communities in Birmingham.”
The meaning of Mr Kelsall's statement was clearly that SPUC was responsible for the activities described at the NAHT conference.
SPUC mounted a legal challenge to both LBC and the NAHT and an apology was broadcast on LBC on Friday 24 July as follows:
On my show on 4 May 2015 Rob Kelsall, an officer of the National Association of Head Teachers discussed the unlawful activities of some people in Birmingham opposed to the teaching of a local programme called “Challenging Homophobia in Primary Schools. In that context Mr Kelsall named The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. Mr Kelsall wishes to clarify that he did not intend to imply that The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children was responsible for or in any way involved in any unlawful activity as he entirely accepts that this is not the case and through me he apologises to the Society.
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