Former skills minister Andrea Jenkyns to be made a dame

Jenkyns was only skills minister for three months, but is to receive the gong in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list

Jenkyns was only skills minister for three months, but is to receive the gong in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list

The former skills minister Andrea Jenkyns will be made a dame for “political and public service” despite serving in the role for just three and half months.

Jenkyns is among several Boris Johnson loyalists to receive honours and peerages in the former prime minister’s resignation honours list. 

The MP for Morley and Outwood was first made a minister in July 2022 to replace Alex Burghart who was one of a string of ministers to dramatically resign from Boris Johnson’s cabinet last summer.

Jenkyns was first appointed by Johnson as parliamentary under secretary of state (junior minister) for skills, further and higher education. When Liz Truss became prime minister that September, Jenkyns was reappointed as minister for skills. A month later, she was fired and replaced by Robert Halfon by new prime minister Rishi Sunak.

In her brief stint at the Department for Education, Jenkyns served under two education secretaries, James Cleverley and Kit Malthouse. 

Jenkyns said: “I am deeply honoured to have been awarded a Damehood (DBE) for public and political services, having been nominated by our Nation’s greatest Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher, the Rt Hon. Boris Johnson, it was an honour to serve in his Government as a Minister & a Whip 🇬🇧”

Her appointment as an education minister attracted some controversy at the time of her first appointment to the DfE after footage emerged that showed her raising a middle finger to protestors in Downing Street.

The incident even sparked a complaint from Alison Peacock, the chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching.

In those three months, Jenkyns found herself the target of scathing remarks from the mayor of the West Midlands, fellow conservative Andy Street, for telling the Local Government Chronicle that she was “not a proponent of elected mayors” and said she wanted to see that adult education powers are “being well used first, before giving more [funding] away”. The Department for Education was forced to row back on her comments. 

Jenkyns was in post during the tumultuous period of exam results delays and blunders last summer affecting thousands of BTEC and Cambridge Technical students and some T Level courses.  

Before being made a minister, Jenkyns served for ten months as an assistant government whip.

Receiving knighthoods are former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant. Former home secretary Priti Patel is also being made a dame and Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen is to be made a lord.

Latest education roles from

Chief Education Officer (Deputy CEO)

Chief Education Officer (Deputy CEO)

Romero Catholic Academy Trust

Director of Academy Finance and Operations

Director of Academy Finance and Operations

Ormiston Academies Trust

Principal & Chief Executive

Principal & Chief Executive

Truro & Penwith College

Group Director of Marketing, Communications & External Engagement

Group Director of Marketing, Communications & External Engagement

London & South East Education Group

Sponsored posts

Sponsored post

Supporting the UK’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan Through Skills

The UK Government’s Decarbonising Transport: A Better, Greener Britain strategy sets a legally binding path towards a net-zero transport...

Advertorial
Sponsored post

Project power: ASDAN expands its qualifications portfolio

From 2026, ASDAN’s planned Foundation and Higher Project Qualifications will sit alongside its Extended Project Qualification[CM1] , creating a complete...

Advertorial
ATAs

Spotlight on excellence: Nominations now open for the Apprenticeship & Training Awards 2026

Nominations are open for the 2026 Apprenticeship & Training Awards, celebrating outstanding employers and providers with national recognition, a...

FE Week Reporter
Sponsored post

Funding Adult Green Skills

New sources of funding are available to finance the delivery of green skills to all learners. Government policy is...

Tyler Palmer

More from this theme

Apprenticeships, Politics

Badenoch: I’ll double apprenticeships budget by slashing uni degrees

Leader of the opposition would reintroduce student number controls for 'poor quality' uni courses to fund apprenticeship boost

Shane Chowen
Apprenticeships, Politics

Starmer swerves a deadline for headline ‘two-thirds’ target

'If there’s no date for people to work towards, then it’s just a vague aspiration', says ex-SpAd

Billy Camden
Politics, Skills reform

DWP will take over apprenticeships, minister confirms

Shifting adult skills and apprenticeships policy will give "bigger emphasis on skills", Jacqui Smith claims

Anviksha Patel
Long read, Politics

Reform plots a political tsunami, but skills policy is lost at sea

Farage's turquoise tide: The insurgent party’s supporters want to fix ‘broken Britain’, insisting that trades and industrial automation are...

Jessica Hill

Your thoughts

Leave a Reply

2 Comments