The first openly LGBT woman to serve in the cabinet, and the first Education Secretary to attend a comprehensive school, Greening’s appointment was welcomed by many as a safe pair of hands after the more provocative approach of Michael Gove and Nicky Morgan. The reabsorbing of higher and further education policy by the Department for Education puts her in perhaps an even more powerful position than previous BIS or DfE Secretaries of State. She will now be the arbiter in fights for funding between schools, universities and colleges, particularly if the Treasury begins trimming the department’s budget.
Plain speaking and direct, Greening is a close ally of the Prime Minister and is tasked with planning the reintroduction of grammar schools and delivery of the PM’s stated plans for social mobility and opportunity, and we can expect further government activity in widening participation and fair access as she attempts to piece higher education policy back together with the rest of the education system. Incidentally, Greening’s partner is a lecturer in teacher training at the UCL Institute of Education – at the very heart of what Michael Gove once labelled the ‘blob’ – perhaps an indication of how far things have moved on from the Gove era.