When Elizabeth Truss, MP for South West Norfolk, became Minister for Education and Childcare in the government reshuffle in September, there were quite a few gasps of horror from around the early years sector.
After all, this was the woman who, back in May, had enraged childminders with calls for a Dutch-style system, with childminders able to look after more children and taken out of the Ofsted inspection system to be regulated by agencies.
Cue loud protests from the childminding community, fearful that their hard-won progress in the professionalisation of the role was in jeopardy. Others in the early years sector, too, were convinced that Ms Truss would usher in a whirlwind of deregulation as soon as her feet were under the ministerial desk.
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