Sir Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician who served as Minister of State for Schools from 2010 to 2012; 2014 to 2021 and from 2022 to 2023.

[1][2][3] He has served at the Department for Education under Conservative Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

After serving as a backbencher for two years, Gibb returned to government as Minister of State for School Reform in July 2014.

He returned as Minister of State for Schools under Rishi Sunak in October 2022 and voluntarily left Government in the November 2023 reshuffle.

[9] Upon leaving school he took a job as a handyman in a London hotel, spending his evenings in the House of Commons watching late-night debates from the public gallery.

Gibb stood as the Conservative candidate in Stoke-on-Trent Central at the 1992 general election, coming second with 27.9% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Mark Fisher.

[20] At the 2001 general election, Gibb was re-elected as MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton with an increased vote share of 45.2% and a decreased majority of 5,643.

[21] Following the election, Gibb was briefly a spokesman on environment, transport and the regions but resigned under the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith, reportedly because he was unhappy at his new role.

Shortly afterwards, the newly elected Conservative Party Leader, David Cameron, promoted Gibb from within the education team to Shadow Minister for Schools.

[26][27] After the formation of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, Gibb was appointed Minister of State for Schools in the new Department for Education.

[28] Just days after being appointed as Minister for Schools in 2010, Gibb was criticised by teachers and educationalists after leaked information suggested he had told officials at the Department of Education that he "would rather have a physics graduate from Oxbridge without a PGCE teaching in a school than a physics graduate from one of the rubbish universities with a PGCE".

[30] This statement was criticised by researchers at both Cambridge University and the Education Endowment Foundation who observed a link between public speaking classes and improved academic results and economic potential.

[35] In July 2020, as Minister of State for School Standards his department oversaw the controversial[36] derivation of A-level grades in place of exams cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.