Yahoo NewsBacklash Over New Education Minster 'Giving Middle Finger' To Protesters
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- Boris JohnsonPrime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2019
(Photo: Kirsty O'Connor - PA Images via Getty Images)
The new education minster has been criticised after appearing to give the middle finger to protesters while entering Downing Street.
Andrea Jenkyns was filmed making the gesture with her hand as she walked through the black gates on Thursday.
Jenkyns was appointed to the role of parliamentary under-secretary of state at the department for education on Friday in a reshuffle by prime minister Boris Johnson.
The footage, shared on social media on Thursday evening and seized on the next day, appears to have been taken shortly before Johnson announced he was stepping down as leader of the Conservative Party, prior to her appointment as a minister.
Is it too much to ask in @BorisJohnson Britain that the new Education Minister set an example to our nations children and not show the general public her middle finger. pic.twitter.com/MHlkZvIIBL
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) July 8, 2022
The education minister was one of the MPs to show support for Johnson outside No 10 on Thursday as he announced his resignation.
It had previously been reported Jenkyns was heard shouting back at protesters.
According to people present, she said: “Those who laugh last, laugh loudest. Wait and see!”
In response to the new video, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson tweeted: “Ministers aren’t expected to be perfect. But is it really too much to ask that they don’t treat the public like this?”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.
