Liz Kendall has been named the brand new Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Know-how as a part of a cupboard reshuffle spurred by the resignation of former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.
Kendall replaces Peter Kyle, who has served as Tech Secretary because the Labour got here to energy in July 2024. Kyle has been appointed as Enterprise Secretary.
The daughter of a former senior determine on the Financial institution of England, Kendall labored on the Institute for Public Coverage Analysis (IPPR) earlier than working straight for Labour politician Harriet Harman.
The Member of Parliament for Leicester West, Kendall is among the many extra seasoned MPs in Labour’s present crop, having first been elected again in 2010.
The 54-year-old held some senior positions in Labour through the opposition years, notably as shadow junior well being minister beneath the management of Ed Miliband – whom she tried to succeed as chief within the 2015 management contest.
Within the Starmer premiership, she has served because the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions because the 2024 basic election, the place she was tasked with reshaping the welfare system and was key to the controversial tightened eligibility for Private Independence Funds (PIPs).
Like her predecessor Kyle, Kendall’s background is extra rooted in politics than know-how, with restricted expertise straight within the business.
Upon becoming a member of the Division for Science, Innovation and Know-how (DSIT), Kendall addressed her new group, saying: “I can’t inform you how thrilled I’m to be right here and to have been given the chance and honour to work with all of you.
“I do know from my good buddy Peter Kyle, your former secretary of state, the unbelievable potential right here, your large dedication to vary individuals’s lives for the higher and I actually imagine this division will help construct the longer term for individuals in each a part of the nation, irrespective of their background, and who may presumably need a greater job than that?”
