Another minister gets a vote of no confidence

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

After Andrew Lansley received his highly embarrassing vote of no confidence, you’d expect the media to be alert for other ministers facing similar rebukes.

Obviously it’s the Easter weekend, and many of the nation’s political correspondents are taking a well deserved break, but you’d surely expect more coverage for the education secretary being given the thumbs down by a major teaching union. Yesterday the NASUWT passed a motion saying that they “have no confidence in the education policies of the coalition government” – and yet thanks to other (managed?) distractions, this has been largely ignored.

Tellingly, like Lansley before him, Gove showed his disdain for the unions by declining an invitation to speak at the conference. Had he taken up the invitation he may well have been in a position to argue his case, rather than being the latest minister to be humiliated in this way. NASUWT General Secretary Chris Keates told the conference yesterday:

“When he declined to attend, I began to reflect on why and thought that, from his point of view, it was probably the equivalent of a pupil being invited to meet their form teacher for a review of their behaviour and they know the news isn’t going to be good.”

This also follows schools minister Nick Gibb being heckled by another teaching union, the ATL, last week, as teachers begin to turn on Tory education reforms in a way that is reminiscent of the way the medical profession began to turn against NHS reforms just a few weeks ago.

Lansley is still struggling to get off the ropes after being hung out to dry. Gove will survive as a minister through his friendship with the PM and his impeccable “Cameroon” credentials. Yet he’s now guilty of incompetence, and has alienated the teachers. How much worse can it get for an education secretary after less than a year in the role?