Former council leader Georgia Gould has been appointed education minister, with Catherine McKinnell departing as schools minister during Sir Keir Starmer’s front bench reshuffle.
Josh MacAlister, a Teach First alumnus and founder of social work charity Frontline, and Olivia Bailey, MP for Reading West and Mid Berkshire, have also been appointed as junior education ministers.
Children’s minister Janet Daby has left government and early education minister Stephen Morgan has been made a government whip, marking a busy reshuffle for the sector, although education secretary Bridget Phillipson has been retained.
Ministerial moves at DfE
McKinnell, the MP for Newcastle North, has served in the Department for Education ministerial team since Labour’s victory in last July’s general election.
She posted on X that it had been “an honour to serve as school standards minister. I’m proud of all we’ve achieved.
“Whilst grateful to be offered a role, I’ve made the decision to resign. I’m looking forward to spending more time in Newcastle and in Parliament fighting for the city I’m proud to call home.”
It is not clear what role McKinnell was offered.
Georgia Gould, one of Labour’s 2024 MPs, has been appointed education minister, though the DfE has not yet confirmed exactly what her title will be, nor whether responsibilities will shift around within its team.
The MP for Queen’s Park and Maida Vale used to lead Camden council. She went to school at Camden School for Girls.
The change comes at a critical time for the DfE, with significant reforms to both SEND and schools – both in McKinnell’s brief – due this term.
McKinnell had also presided over the children’s wellbeing and schools bill, which will go back to the Commons after the current Lords stage.
Junior minister shake-up
Meanwhile MacAlister, who led a review of children’s social care under the Conservative government, said it is an “enormous privelege” to join the DfE.
“It’s a responsibility I take on with voices of many children and families ringing in my ears,” he said on LinkedIn.
He is “looking forward” to delivering “big and positive change for the most vulnerable children in England”.
Bailey, who like MacAlister was made an MP in the 2024 general election, has been chair of the Labour Women’s Network and deputy general secretary of the Fabian Society.
She was also a senior aide to Starmer before standing as an MP and a partner at consultants Public First.
Bailey had been Chair of the Labour Women’s Network, deputy General Secretary of the Fabian Society, and a senior aide to Keir Starmer, before standing as a parliamentary candidate.
The government announced this week that Baroness Smith, who has been piloting the bill through the upper house, would serve in a new beefed-up Department for Work and Pensions, but would remain a DfE minister.
Downing Street also kept Phillipson in post, despite making many changes to the cabinet following the resignation of deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.
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