The Conservative party has confirmed which ministers will serve in its shadow education team.
It will consist of:
- Damian Hinds, MP for East Hampshire as shadow education secretary
- Gagan Mohindra, MP for South West Hertfordshire as the new shadow minister of state
- James Wild, MP for North West Norfolk, as the parliamentary under-secretary of state
Find out who is on Labour’s education team at the DfE
Damian Hinds, shadow education secretary
Mr Hinds has been MP for East Hampshire since 2010.
He was schools minister from November 2023 up until the election, and was previously education secretary under Theresa May.
Before Hinds moved back to the Department for Education as shadow education secretary, he served as prisons minister under former prime minister Rishi Sunak.
He also previously served as security and borders minister under Boris Johnson.
During the last parliament, he voted no to an opposition day motion to create a register of children not in school.
Last September, Labour held an opposition day debate on the safety of school buildings, where a motion was tabled asking for papers and correspondence related to the safety of buildings to be laid before the House of Commons.
Mr Hinds voted against the motion.
Find out more about Damian Hinds
Gagan Mohindra, shadow minister of state
Mr Mohindra was first elected as an MP in 2019, and had served as an assistant government whip until the general election under Rishi Sunak.
Mohindra served on the Public Accounts Committee in 2020, and the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art from 2020 until December 2023.
Mr Mohindra also voted no on the opposition motion on a register of children not in school and to releasing correspondence on the safety of school buildings.
James Wild, parliamentary under-secretary of state
Mr Wild was also first elected in 2019. He has not held any ministerial briefs, though has served on the Public Accounts Committee, and several others.
Mr Wild also voted no on the opposition motion on a register of children not in school and to releasing correspondence on the safety of school buildings.
The Conservatives interim front bench is expected to be in place until the party elects a new leader to replace Rishi Sunak.
Education minister seat losses
The former education secretary, Gillian Keegan, lost her seat in the general election earlier this month.
Three of the four MPs in the ministerial team in the previous Department for Education lost their seats at the election. Former children’s minister David Johnston and former skills minister Luke Hall were both also voted out.
