The Department for Education has put Gemma Collins in the frame for its latest social media move, posting a video on its official X account that described the 45-year-old as being “bought in” by the department. The clip tagged Education Minister Bridgit Phillipson and quickly drew sharp reactions online.

In the video, Collins is first seen turning round and revealing herself to the camera outside the Westminster building before the scene cuts to her inside the department. She asks, “Right. What are we doing to help the children?” and Phillipson opens the door to her office and replies, “come in, let’s have a chat”.

The exchange landed as an attention-grabbing piece of political theatre rather than a routine policy message. The department did not explain what role Collins was playing or what it hoped to achieve, and the tone of the clip made clear it was meant to travel online. That helped it do exactly that, but not in the way anyone in Whitehall would likely have hoped.

Responses ranged from fury to disbelief. One viewer wrote that “The good and decent officials who were made to tweet this nonsense deserve better than gimmicky crap from a terrible leadership. I’m sorry to see the department brought so low.” Another said, “I say this sincerely: God help us.” A third mocked the stunt by asking, “What’s next? Joey Essex visits the Ministry of Defence?”

Not everyone objected. One user welcomed the return of the reality television personality, writing, “about time we see Gemma back on our screens lol BIG UP THE ESSEX QUEEN”.

What made the clip stand out was not just Collins’s appearance, but the way it blurred the line between ministerial communications and entertainment. The department framed the moment as a social media event, not a formal announcement, and the video offered no detail on any education initiative attached to it. In that sense, the response became part of the story: a public test of how far a government department can lean on celebrity-led attention before it starts to look unserious.

For Collins, the video put her back in front of a national audience in a way few would have expected from a department charged with schools and children’s policy. For the department, it showed a willingness to use viral content to get noticed. The question left by the clip is now less about the cameo itself than about whether this style of communication can help a serious institution without making it look smaller.