Michelle Donelan has been appointed the new education secretary tonight following Nadhim Zahawi’s appointment as chancellor.
The Conservative MP has been universities minister since 2020, having kept her post in a major government reshuffle in September of last year.
She was elected to Parliament in 2015 as MP for Chippenham and has served as a member of the Commons Education Select Committee.
Ms Donelan also worked as a government whip before she was appointed parliamentary under secretary for children, to cover Kemi Badenoch’s maternity leave in 2019.
As universities minister, her responsibilities covered strategy for post-16 education; higher technical education (levels 4 and 5); further education funding and accountability; lifelong learning entitlement; Institutes of Technology and National Colleges; universities and higher education reform; and higher education quality.
Recently, as universities minister, she has championed the government’s planned Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill.
Ms Donelan has said that the bill will put a duty on universities “to promote free speech and academic freedom, not just protect it” and said that “it will put a duty directly on students’ unions to protect free speech”.
Ms Donelan was state educated, attending The County High School in Leftwich, Cheshire. She then went on to read history and politics at the University of York.
Ms Donelan’s career outside politics was in marketing, and she is reported to have worked at Marie Claire magazine and for the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).
