Andrea Jenkyns re-appointed education minister

It is unclear whether she will retain her current skills, further and higher education brief

It is unclear whether she will retain her current skills, further and higher education brief

Andrea Jenkyns has been re-appointed as a minister in the Department for Education – but it is unclear whether she will retain her current skills, further and higher education brief.

The MP for Morley and Outwood re-joins the department as a parliamentary under secretary of state, alongside newly appointed minister of state Kelly Tolhurst and education secretary Kit Malthouse.

Jenkyns was named as the minister of skills, further and higher education in July.

Brendan Clarke-Smith, who was the children’s minister, has now moved to the cabinet office, it was announced tonight.

More junior minster appointments are still to come. Full DfE ministerial briefs are yet to be confirmed.

Jenkyns was first elected in May 2015, and had been an assistant whip in the Whips Office since September last year.

Prior to that she had served on several committees.

The new minister attracted some controversy at their time of her first appointment to the DfE after footage emerged that showed her raising a middle finger to protestors in Downing Street.

Jenkyns later issued a statement in which she explained that there was a “baying mob” outside the gates who were shouting abuse to MPs. She said she had “reached the end of my tether” following “huge amounts of abuse” over the years, adding: “I should have shown more composure but am only human.”

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