Sir Gavin included in Sunak cabinet

Scarborough-born MP Sir Gavin Williamson is returning to government with a role in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s new cabinet.

The former Education Secretary has been appointed as a minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office.

Sir Gavin was Education Secretary between July 2019 and September 2021 and was criticised for mishandling the GCSE and A-Level exams fiasco in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He was sacked after widespread criticism of his role in the matter. In 2019, he was sacked as Defence Secretary following an inquiry into a leak from the National Security Council.

In March this year the MP for South Staffordshire received a knighthood.

The week before his sacking as Education Secretary, Sir Gavin apologised after confusing England footballer Marcus Rashford with rugby star Maro Itoje, wrongly claiming he had met the former while in fact he had spoken over Zoom to the latter.

Sir Gavin was raised in Scarborough by Laboursupporting parents and has previously told The Scarborough News that many members of his family still live in the area.

He attended East Ayton Primary, Raincliffe School, and Scarborough Sixth Form College before studying social sciences at Bradford University.

In 2001, aged 24, he was elected as a North Yorkshire county councillor in the Seamer and Ayton ward, before leaving the council in 2005 to pursue his Parliamentary ambitions.

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