Britain’s education minister Gillian Keegan apologised for an expletive-ridden outburst on Monday after complaining she wasn’t being thanked enough for doing a ” ‘expletive’ good job” in dealing with potentially hundreds of unsafe school buildings.The revelations of old and weak concrete in schools, which saw 104 ordered to shut buildings only days before the start of a new term and others using rooms propped up by steel girders, has sparked anger among parents and teachers.

The issue is a new political headache for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as members of parliament returned on Monday following the summer recess and adds to the impression of decaying public infrastructure in Britain. The government is awaiting responses from about 1,500 schools that were sent surveys to identify those with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), a lightweight form of concrete commonly used during the 1960s-80s but now considered weak and unsafe. Keegan risked inflaming the debate further in unguarded remarks caught on camera following an interview with ITV when she suggested she had done more than others to try to resolve the issue.