Dispute Blows Up Over Justine Greening's Cabinet Departure

Minister leaps to Putney MP's defence after former advisor says she was unpopular
Justine Greening leaving her home to hear her fate

The row over the controversial departure of Putney MP from the cabinet has rumbled on after her supporters responded to criticism of her performance as Education Secretary.

Ms Greening resigned as minister after reportedly refusing to take up the role of pensions secretary which many saw as a poison chalice.

Former advisor to the Prime Minister, Nick Timothy, wrote an article in the Daily Mail this Wednesday (10 January) denying that he had a role in her departure but saying that she deserved to go. He said, “Greening was unpopular with officials, she frustrated reformers, and she exasperated the Prime Minister.

“Charged with making Britain ‘the world’s great meritocracy’, she put the brakes on policies that work, like free schools, and devised bureaucratic initiatives of little value.”

Hostile sources have briefed the press that the Prime Minister found Ms Greening patronising and supercilious in cabinet meetings. There also appears to have been frustration among some ministers over her apparent lack of enthusiasm for the grammar school program and a policy to cut tuition fees.

There is now some speculation that Ms Greening could potentially join a group of Tory MPs including Dominic Grieve, Nicky Morgan and Anna Soubry who are prepared to cooperate with other parties to block a more extreme outcome from the Brexit negotiations.

Some of her former colleagues have leapt to her defence. Having worked under her from 2016 until this week's reshuffle, former Universities Minister Jo Johnson defended Ms Greening saying, "So wrong, this stuff re Justine Greening — she supported me in every single reform we undertook of our universities, was a terrific colleague and faultlessly loyal.”



Damian Hinds MP who replaced Ms Greening as Secretary for State for Education, told staff at the ministry that he had “big shoes to fill”, and reiterated his commitment to improving social mobility, one of Greening’s key policies, when he went to the department on 10 January.

As yet there has been no response from Justine Greening for a comment on her resignation from the cabinet.


January 12, 2018