Gavin Williamson ridiculed for posing with a 'whip' in bizarre photo to announce exams U-turn

People are noticing something bizarre about a photo of Gavin Williamson taken shortly after he announced a major U-turn on A-Level grades.

Having revealed that students' results will now be based entirely on their teachers' predictions rather than being standardised by a government algorithm, the education secretary posed for a photoshoot with what appears to be... a whip.

Or at least, that's how people are interpreting this Press Association photo taken and shared by Stefan Rousseau.

Seriously, is that actually a whip on his desk?

Lots of people made the same joke.

Williamson was chief whip between 2016 and 2017 before being sacked over an alleged National Security Council leak, which he has long since denied.

While others questioned why Williamson would pose for a photoshoot in these circumstances anyway.

Also, where is his computer?

One possible explanation is that the 'whip' is actually a riding crop.

But that, of course, just begs the question: why is Gavin Williamson posing with a riding crop?

Another is that it was placed there to fill space by the photographer.

(But, again, why was there a whip to hand in Whitehall?)

Stranger things have happened for political photoshoots.

indy100 has contacted the photographer to see if he can shed any light on this perplexing set-up, and we'll update you if we hear anything.