‘It hurts’: Starmer loyalist Phillipson fights on despite cabinet demotion

Exclusive: The minister for women and equalities has also been handed the role of Labour chair, in a not-so subtle bid to restore unity to Burnham’s government

If Bridget Phillipson is angry at losing a job – which, in the brief honeymoon period at the start of Keir Starmer’s Labour government, she called the “honour of my life” – she is doing a good job of hiding it.

“It hurts to lose a job you love,” she says on Tuesday. “Being education secretary was amazing … and I’m really proud of what we achieved in that time.”