Former deputy chief whip Kelly Tolhurst has been appointed as a minister in the Department for Education but will not be assigned to a brief until later tonight, according to the department.

The news comes just after schools minister Will Quince was moved to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Ms Tolhurst, who is MP for Rochester and Strood in Kent, previously held junior ministerial positions in the Department for Transport and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

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Her exact portfolio has not yet been confirmed, but her arrival in the department was announced at the same time as the departure of Mr Quince.

Ms Tolhurst grew up in Kent, and attended a non-selective state school in the county.

She has previously praised grammar schools, saying in 2018: “Grammars in Kent have worked and have done wonders for the education of many of our young people, and I am proud that family backgrounds have not been a restriction to learning.”

Mr Quince was reappointed as an education minister in July after resigning the previous morning,

He resigned from his post as children’s minister after saying he had given “repeated assurances [...] to the media which have now been found to be inaccurate” regarding the scandal involving fellow Conservative MP Chris Pincher.

Also confirmed for the education team is Andrea Jenkyns, who reprises her role as parliamentary under-secretary of state that she has held since July. 

Ms Jenkyns, a former music tutor, was elected as the Morley and Outwood MP in 2015, defeating the then shadow chancellor Ed Balls. She has been the deputy chairwoman of the European Research Group since 2019.

The reshuffle follows Kit Malthouse being named as education secretary as part of the first Cabinet under new prime minister Liz Truss yesterday.

He became the fifth education secretary to hold the post in the space of 12 months, replacing James Cleverly.  

When asked how he felt about his new role as he was leaving Downing Street yesterday evening, Mr Malthouse said it was “most important job in Whitehall”.