Blunkett resigns - education perspective

Ruth Kelly, 36, becomes the youngest of Blair's Cabinet after he promoted her from the Cabinet office to become education secretary following David Blunketts resignation.

 

Mr Blunkett quit as home secretary on Wednesday after an e-mail emerged showing a visa application for his ex-lover's nanny had been fast-tracked.

 

Party Response: Conservative

 

Tim Collins, shadow education secrtary said: "The new ministerial team at the Department for Education (DfES) promises action, but their records show they are all talk. In the last four years Mr Blair has had four Labour Secretaries of State and yet still one in three 11-year olds are unable to write properly and a million children play truant a year. If there were prizes for ministerial turnover the DfES would be number one but on every other measure it’s bottom of the class."

 

Party Response: Liberal Democrats

 

Phil Willis MP, Liberal Democrat education spokesman said: