O minister, where art thou?

England still does not have a universities minister, but higher education somehow manages to carry on.

By the time you read this edition of the Playbook, higher education in England will have gone nearly 100 hours without a minister for universities and science. This is in sharp contrast to the usual practice of announcing ministerial appointments shortly after a resignation.

Prime ministers like to show that they are in control of the narrative by putting a successor in place as soon as a minister leaves. But when Playbook phoned the Number 10 press office at 5pm yesterday, we were told that a ministerial appointment would be made “in due course”.