Amid the political chaos of ministerial resignations on Tuesday evening, one Conservative MP had a very blunt response to the announcement of a new education secretary.
In a very public example of apparent Tory division, backbencher Lucy Allan MP replied to the official UK prime minister Twitter account’s announcement of Michelle Donelan’s new role, simply writing: “Seriously”.
Ms Allan appeared unhappy that Nadhim Zahawi had been moved to the Treasury to become the new chancellor, as Boris Johnson scrambled to replace Rishi Sunak.
Replying to a tweet announcing Mr Zahawi’s appointment, Ms Allan lamented: “Huge loss to education - a brilliant and inspirational education secretary.”
In another tweet, in response to post by a school governor praising Mr Zahawi’s work in the department, Ms Allan wrote: “Sad to see Nadhim Zahawi go from a post that he was passionate about.”
Ms Allan expanded on her one word withering assessment of Ms Donelan’s appointment as education secretary, replying to one Twitter user saying: “No, I am a backbencher and so not in the running for any position, but I want a credible government for our country.”
The Conservative MP for Telford’s one word assessment of Ms Donelan piqued curiosity on social media.
Alan White, the editor of Politics Home, wrote: “A lot has gone on this evening but I’ll be honest, the only thing I want to hear about is the source of the Lucy Allan/ Michelle Donelan beef.”
Shehab Khan, a politics reporter at ITV, responded saying: “Ermmmmm - Tory MP Lucy Allan doesn’t sound like she’s too impressed with her own education secretary.”
Political editor of BBC’s Newsnight, Lewis Goodall, summed up the spat simply saying: “Conservative MP for Telford Lucy Allan doesn’t seem especially enamoured with the new education secretary.”
