Who is the longest-serving Education Secretary? (NB: It’s not Gove)

Michael Gove is currently 8th in the longevity stakes however he’s only a fortnight away from overtaking Kenneth Baker and stealing 7th place* (UPDATE: By time he left, he got much further).

The winner of the overall leader board is actually David Eccles, who I originally placed outside the top ten on my spreadsheet (and hence yesterday tweeted that Gove was 7th). However, Eccles had two shots at the role – one stint of 809 days, another of 1004. Taken separately the periods aren’t noteworthy, but taken together the periods make him the longest-serving Education Secretary. Hence, I bumped him up (and Gove down).  Eccles also lived for the second longest time of any Education Secretary (he died aged 94, outpaced only by Edward Short who lived to be 99).

UPDATED 25/5/16: Needed to update Michael Gove

1	David Eccles	1823 (809 + 1004)
2	George Tomlinson	1719
3	Keith Joseph	1714
4	Michael Gove	1525
5	David Blunkett	1498
6	Rab Butler	1405
7	Margaret Thatcher	1353
8	Kenneth Baker	1161
9	Florence Horsbrugh	1082
10	Gillian Shephard	1057
11	Edward Balls	1044
12	Shirley Williams	967
13	Anthony Crosland	949
14	Mark Carlisle	862
15	John Patten	832
16	Edward Short	805
17	Charles Clarke	783
18	Geoffrey Lloyd	758
19	Nicky Morgan	732
20	Edward Boyle	629
21	Ellen Wilkinson	560
22	Fred Mulley	556
23	Kenneth Clarke	526
24	Ruth Kelly	507
25	Estelle Morris	503
26	John MacGregor	467
27	Quintin Hogg	444 (246 + 198)
28	Reg Prentice	434
29	Alan Johnson	420
30	Patrick Gordon Walker	221
31	Michael Stewart	98
32	Richard Law	62

The average is 851 days. Unless you count the Hogg and Eccles periods separately, in which case the average becomes a rounded 800 days.

UPDATED 25/5/16: Taking account of Michael Gove finally having got to the end this table has been re-done. The new average time in office is 863 days altogether. Or, for single periods in office, it is 810 days.

UPDATED: Taking account of Nicky Morgan’s time in office the average for single periods in office is 801 days, and 832 overall.

*NB: Throughout this site I refer to all people in the lead education role as ‘Education Secretary’ even though I realise this role, technically, didn’t come in until 1964. Before that the role was merely ‘Minister for Education’ and up until half-way through Butler’s tenure the role was performed by a ‘President of the Board of Education’. At various times the role has also expanded to including Employment, Science, Children, & so on. I use ‘Education Secretary’ as a shorthand for all these roles. Please forgive me.