After the coup d'état of 19 September 2006, he acted as the leader of the disempowered and disintegrating Thai Rak Thai Party until its forced dissolution by the Constitutional Tribunal in May 2007. By the court's decision he was banned from political activity for five years. In June 2013 he returned to political office, again becoming Minister of Education, in Yingluck Shinawatra's cabinet, representing her Pheu Thai Party. He was again removed from office by a military coup on 22 May 2014.