Editing Michael Fallon (section)

===Junior minister in the Department for Education and Science===
Thatcher appointed Fallon [[Parliamentary Under Secretary of State]] for the [[Department for Education and Science]] in July 1990, a position he continued to hold under the new [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|premiership]] of [[John Major]]. In this office Fallon headed legislation that led to the local management of schools,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2010-09-09b.571.0&s=speaker%3A10194#g571.2|title=Secondary Schooling|date=9 September 2010|work=They Work for You|access-date=18 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107112621/https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2010-09-09b.571.0&s=speaker:10194#g571.2|archive-date=7 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> which among other changes gave schools a greater degree of financial independence, including control of their own bank accounts and cheque books.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=1991-07-19a.641.4&s=michael+fallon+cheque+book#g648.3|title=Schools: 19 July 1991|date=19 July 1991|work=They Work for You|access-date=18 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107060242/https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=1991-07-19a.641.4&s=michael+fallon+cheque+book#g648.3|archive-date=7 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> He remained in that office until the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]], when he lost his seat at Darlington to Labour's [[Alan Milburn]] by a margin of 2,798 votes.