In a sea of ministerial turnover, Nick Gibb has been a rare island of stability. Among the 10 education secretaries since 2010 (and eight since 2018) Gibb was a near ever-present at the department as minister of state. It is perhaps no coincidence that schools in England have been one of the Conservative government's principal success stories.
Education is far from the worst offender when it comes to churn. Yesterday, Lee Rowley was appointed the 16th housing minister in the last 13 years. The previous Labour government fared little better, going through nine of their own between 1997 and 2010. No one is suggesting that Britain is a minister of decent tenure away from resolving the housing crisis, but it couldn't hurt to try.
