Nadhim Zahawi said it was “impossible to imagine how any adult could commit such evil acts against a child”, as he provided a statement to the House of Commons on the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

Arthur was killed in June 2020 by his stepmother Emma Tustin, after being submitted to a campaign of torture and cruelty at the hands of both Tustin, and Arthur’s father, Thomas Hughes.

The education secretary told the House of Commons this afternoon he was determined to “expose what went wrong”.

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said she hoped the country remembered Arthur as “the little boy with the beaming smile”.

An emotional Julian Knight, Arthur’s MP, said tragic circumstances around Arthur’s death “broke the hearts of my town”.