If Bridget Phillipson is angry at losing a job – one that, in the brief honeymoon period at the start of Keir Starmer’s Labour government, she called the “honour of my life” – she is doing a good job of hiding it. “It hurts to lose a job you love,” she says. “Being education secretary was amazing … and I’m really proud of what we achieved in that time.”
Phillipson was removed during the clearout of Starmer’s cabinet when Andy Burnham took office last week, and was replaced by Lucy Powell, an ally of the new prime minister. But unlike some spurned colleagues, Phillipson didn’t walk away from government, instead accepting the brief of women and equalities minister – now a cabinet standalone position – which she had previously held alongside education.
