Lucy Powell, the newly appointed Education Secretary, faced ridicule from Tory rivals after a grammatical blunder in her social media post announcing the role. The Manchester Central MP wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "Absolutely thrilled the [sic] be appointed Education Secretary. For me there's no more important job for any government than making sure young people have the best education, the best opportunities and the best future they can. Lots to do and I look forward to getting started."
Tories mock with red pen
The Conservatives posted a screenshot of her tweet heavily annotated in red ink, giving her a "3/10" mark and writing in the margin: "See me after class!"
Labour hits back
Labour responded by pointing out spelling errors in a Tory release. "They spelled 'Labour's' and 'Britain' incorrectly," they wrote. "The Tories might want to learn how to spell our country correctly before they start embarrassing themselves."
Lucy Powell previously served as Leader of the House of Commons from July 2024 to September 2025. After becoming Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer in late 2025, she was appointed by Andy Burnham as Secretary of State for Education on July 20, 2026, succeeding Bridget Phillipson.
