Lucy Powell Appointed Education Secretary, Faces Conservative Criticism

Lucy Powell's first day as the UK's new Education Secretary has drawn criticism from the Conservative Party, which mocked grammatical mistakes in a social media post announcing her new role. The Tories shared a satirical image on X, marking up Powell’s statement as if it were a school assignment. The edited graphic flagged several errors, including “the be appointed”, with corrections written alongside. It scored 3/10 and included the comment: “See me after class!”. Accompanying the post, the Conservatives wrote: “Labour’s new Education Secretary is off to a flying start.”

On Monday, Andy Burnham was sworn in as Prime Minister. A day later, he carried out his first Cabinet reshuffle, appointing Powell as Secretary of State for Education. Powell became the 10th person to hold the role in the past decade. Phillipson had led the department since Labour came to power in 2024 and will remain in Burnham's cabinet as Minister for Women and Equalities. A senior Labour figure, Powell has served as the party's deputy leader since 2025 and has represented Manchester Central in Parliament since first being elected in 2012. She previously served as shadow education secretary under Jeremy Corbyn between 2015 and 2016 and sat on the House of Commons Education Select Committee from 2017 to 2020. During her parliamentary career, she has also held roles covering digital policy, constitutional affairs and parliamentary business.