This paper explores what underlies the recent introduction of a Higher Education Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in England. Related changes to the higher education landscape are discussed: the 2017 Higher Education Act and creation of a new HE regulator, the Office for Students. How TEF works and some of the consequences of TEF are outlined. As well as discussing what constitutes teaching excellence and what TEF itself is attempting to signal (which includes graduate destinations), we also analyse the underpinning ideologies and logics of choosing metrics to assess teaching excellence, albeit accompanied by peer panel evaluation of institutional written submissions, in determining Gold, Silver and Bronze TEF outcomes. We introduce the notion of TEF as an index rather than a measure. It is suggested that what underlies the English TEF is not about improving teaching but rather an endeavour to pit universities against each other in a highly marketised competitive system with an oversupply of places, in which student debt levels are rising fast. TEF policy is considered with respect to features that would be required of an intelligent accountability system for higher education teaching quality.