Bridget Phillipson has been appointed Labour party chair, putting her at the vanguard of Labour’s battle to win the next general election.

The former education secretary and architect of a landmark overhaul in special education needs (Send) provision in England will follow in the footsteps of other Labour big beasts who have held the position, including Harriet Harman, Angela Rayner and Tom Watson.

Phillipson, who was sacked as education secretary by Andy Burnham last week, replaces Anna Turley after last week’s government reshuffle, which saw the Labour Co-op MP for Redcar moved to a new ministerial role in the Home Office.

The prime minister said the MP for Houghton and Sunderland South would drive culture change and work alongside him and Powell. “She will play a vital role in ensuring the Labour party is match fit for the next election,” he said. “I am delighted Bridget has accepted this role and I look forward to working closely with her on this vital task.”

After a major cabinet reshuffle in which dozens of cabinet ministers and ministers loyal to Keir Starmer were removed from their posts, Phillipson was viewed as a rare survivor, albeit in a reduced role.

In what is likely to be seen as an olive branch to members of the previous government, Labour said the appointment reflected Burnham’s “commitment to drawing on the full breadth and depth of talent across the Labour party as he builds one united team”.

Phillipson said she would put “Labour values and the voices of our movement at the heart of government”. She added: “By uniting together, we will bring hope back to communities and strengthen British society against those working to divide us.”

Phillipson was demoted last week when she was replaced by key Burnham ally Lucy Powell as secretary of state for education. But she maintained her position in the cabinet as women and equalities minister, the first time the traditionally more minor role has been part of cabinet in its own right.

While not an overt Burnhamite, the former education secretary was not seen as overly tribal and had won plaudits from Labour MPs for her engagement over plans to make provision for children with Send more widely available in mainstream schools. Critics raised concerns about the plans, which will raise the bar at which children in England qualify for an education, health and care plan (EHCP), which legally entitles them to get support.

Phillipson has become something of a bete noire for some on the right after overseeing the Labour policy of applying 20% VAT to private school fees from the start of 2025, having recently been called a “spiteful class warrior” by Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch. Brought up in a low-income, single-parent household in the town of Washington, Tyne and Wear, Phillipson wrote a report on child poverty for Starmer and his chancellor Rachel Reeves, and argued that abolishing the two-child benefit cap was the most cost-effective way to make lives better for young disadvantaged people.

She later told the BBC she was going to have Badenoch’s insult put on a T-shirt, adding: “If being a spiteful class warrior means lifting half a million children out of poverty I’ll be wearing that T-shirt with pride.”

Having held the education brief since Labour entered government in July 2024, Phillipson was replaced by Powell, who became the 11th person to hold the post in the last decade. Powell, who is also deputy leader of the Labour party, has long been a Burnham ally. A fellow Manchester MP, she played a key role in helping win the Makerfield campaign, which saw him return to Westminster, and has previously run byelections as well as having directed Ed Miliband’s 2015 national Labour campaign.