When the Blair government came fresh to power in May 1997 it had primary education as it main aim and a close-knit team ready for both Number 10 and the newly merged Department for Education and Employment. David Blunkett, the secretary of state, had been the only member of the shadow cabinet besides Gordon Brown to have been publicly promised his post prior to the election. Estelle Morris, a member of the education team since 1995, became under-secretary for schools and then school standards minister from 1998 when Stephen Byers was promoted to the Cabinet. Professor Michael Barber, Tony Blair's chief speechwriter on schools in opposition, became Blunkett's main adviser and head of the newly created Standards and Effectiveness Unit (SEU) in the department, charged with changing the culture to accept responsibility for delivery as well as legislation. In Number 10, Tony Blair's chief of staff since 1994, David Miliband, an education expert, became head of the newly formed Policy Unit. Andrew Adonis, don and education journalist, who in an article in the run-up to the 1997 election had urged Blair to become his own education minister, was recruited to be Blair's education adviser. From the outset the new DfEE was a whirl of activity. It restructured and rewrote the mission statement and embarked on an ambitious programme of legislation and monitoring. Within days it was setting targets in literacy and numeracy for primary education. Tony Blair was personally involved, regularly meeting the education team at the DfEE.