In January 2013, Loughton was involved in a political dispute involving his earlier work as a minister in the Department of Education when he compared the role of Education Secretary Michael Gove to "Young Mr Grace" from the British sitcom "Are You Being Served?", suggesting there was little interaction between ministers and staff in the department. The next day Loughton was described in an anonymous briefing from the Department of Education to "The Spectator" as a "lazy, incompetent narcissist obsessed only with self-promotion". The following month Loughton tabled "hostile" parliamentary questions to the Department of Education on the subject of complaints by staff, which "The Independent" described as "a significant escalation of hostilities" between Loughton and some of his old colleagues.