Spin, selfies and suspense as the race to the polls draws in

As the big day closes in, FErret anticipates a night of crisps and political departures
2nd June 2017, 12:00am
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Spin, selfies and suspense as the race to the polls draws in

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/spin-selfies-and-suspense-race-polls-draws

This is it. The home stretch. The moment Barbara from Bristol has been waiting for.

Dentist appointments, Do They Know it’s Christmas? and now general elections are starting to come around far too quickly.

Taking the FE message to the people, FErret can tell you, isn’t always the smiley, selfie-by-the-roadsign experience that hashtagging political keenos would lead you to believe. Even the polls showing a national swing towards the Labour Party don’t convince FErret that Theresa May and Number 10’s Larry the Cat (nice guy) will be parting company.

You may remember that the current education secretary is Justine Greening. She has done a fabulous job at being completely invisible during the election campaign. FErret has been reading predictions implying the voters of Putney will likely keep her in, but that is not to say, of course, that Theresa May will. Could this finally be the promotion Nick “great on grammars” Gibb has been waiting for? The PM will need someone loyal and dependable, with Level 8 skills in spin, to deliver the manifesto pledge of three million apprenticeship starts for young people by 2020 (currently only a quarter of new apprenticeship starts are 16- to 19-year-olds).

Things are also looking promising for the skills and apprenticeships minister, whose actual name until 8 June is “Halfon for Harlow”, with regards to his return to Parliament at the hands of his Essex constituents. But like Greening, his future at the Department for Education is also uncertain. This could mean a brand new FE team for the prime minister to entrust with responsibility for a Ucas system for technical education and an as-yet uncosted national retraining scheme.

FErret has told you before about his concerns that the election could mark the end of the bromance between Halfon and Labour’s shadow skills minister, Gordon Marsden.

FErret understands Blackpool South has been identified as a marginal seat that Labour could lose - meaning we could see the departure of Mr Marsden. Being under 18, FErret doesn’t get a vote, so there will be nothing for it but to nervously watch on as the fate of this advocate of FE gets decided.

But for now, it’s time to nest in preparation for a night of Doritos and Dimbleby.


Share your gossip, scandal and intrigue with FErret by emailing ferret@tesglobal.com

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