Lady Spielman and Lord Gove: Tories confirm peerages

Former Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman will be made a Conservative member of the House of Lords, it has been confirmed.

The former education secretary Michael Gove, now editor of The Spectator, has also been awarded a peerage and James Cleverly, who was education secretary for just under two months in 2022, has been knighted.

Spielman led Ofsted from 2017 to 2023. The end of her reign was mired in controversy after a coroner ruled an Ofsted inspection had contributed to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. 

The life peerage was trailed in the press last month and was branded “inappropriate and insensitive” by school leader groups. 

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch’s citation for the peerage highlights Spielman’s 20 years of service in education, children’s services and regulation.

“She served two terms as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector at Ofsted, promoting substance and integrity in education for all children and young people, and also high-quality social care. She previously chaired the exam regulator Ofqual, overseeing the programme of qualification reform,” Badenoch said.

Her years working as a research and policy director at Ark academy trust was also cited.

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list, also published today, featured two former education secretaries. 

Michael Gove was the longest-serving education secretary in the previous government, taking office when the coalition government was formed in 2010. Before leaving parliament in last year’s general election, Gove had also led the justice and environment departments and finally served as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He has been awarded a life peerage. 

Sunak said: “As education secretary, he introduced changes to the English school system which have resulted in sustained improvement in performance in world rankings in literacy, mathematics and science.”

James Cleverly’s knighthood citation references his time as home secretary and foreign secretary but omits the 1 month and 30 days he served as education secretary during the downfall of Boris Johnson’s premiership in 2022. 

Sunak has also put forward Henry de Zoete, a special adviser to Michael Gove while at DfE, to be made an OBE for public service. 

The investor held a number of other roles in the last government, including non-executive director of the Cabinet Office and was Sunak’s adviser on artificial intelligence.