MP appointed education secretary in May reshuffle

Damian Hinds was appointed to the role after Justine Greening was moved to a work and pensions post which she refused and has since quit the government.

Mr Hinds was promoted from being a junior works and pension minister and is a former chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility.

He was elected Conservative MP for East Hampshire in May 2010.

Joint general secretaries of the National Education Union Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said: ‘We had a good relationship with Justine Greening with whom we had regular meetings.

‘We hope that Damian Hinds will be similarly willing to meet and engage with the unions and progression. And we hope he will be able to make the necessary changes in education policy.

‘Most crucially we hope that he will champion the need for extra funding for education and will be able to get more money for education.’