Johnston lost his Didcot and Wantage seat to the Liberal Democrat’s Olly Glover by more than 6,000 votes at the general election on 4 July. He was first elected Wantage MP in December 2019, before boundary changes expanded the constituency in 2024.
He was appointed parliamentary under-secretary of state for children, families and wellbeing at the Department for Education in August 2023, replacing Claire Coutinho.
During his tenure, he oversaw the expansion of the 30-hours funded childcare entitlements to all two-year-olds in April.
Former Education Secretary Gillian Keegan also lost her Chichester seat by 12,000 votes to the Liberal Democrat’s Jess Brown-Fuller.
First elected to Parliament in 2017, Keegan was appointed Education Secretary in October 2022 when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister following Liz Truss’s ill-fated 49-day premiership.
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