Also: is he knowingly conflating the credential with the education that leads to it, or just betraying his complete lack of interest in what actually constitutes a British degree?

It is quite the paragraph, isn't it? After two summers of marking boycotts and managers completely ignoring any need for connecting education to the grade awarded I've become used to the way quite a lot of those in power in UKHE only care about that degree-awarding-power, not the eduction, but...