The education secretary seems to have forgotten who’s been in power for 13 years

Editorial: Gillian Keegan’s response to the school building scandal has added to the grumbler’s lament that ‘nothing works any more’, from crumbling buildings and rail strikes to dirty rivers and NHS waiting lists. Her government must take its share of responsibility

Gillian Keegan seemed disappointed that parents hadn’t been showering her with praise for her handling of the crisis (PA Wire)

One small but telling indicator that the Conservative Party has forgotten how to “do politics” – let alone govern a medium-sized G7 power – is the latest “attack line” deployed on social media by the Department for Education.

Under the catchy tagline “RAAC UPDATE” (ie Raac scandal), it proudly declares: “MOST SCHOOLS UNAFFECTED”. As the swift Labour response suggested, it’s rather like the mayor of Amity Island putting “Jaws Update” posters up reading “Most beachgoers not eaten by big shark”. Like so much in this grim saga of bungles and botches, the great concrete crisis has given rise to some dark, gallows humour.

It is a strange, unedifying thing to see the department and its ministers indulging in such monumental chutzpah. The schools minister, Nick Gibb, hitherto one of the Tories’ few sensible types, claims that the government’s response to the school buildings scandal has been “world-leading”.