The scientific adviser who delighted British television with nightly updates during the COVID-19 pandemic has been named the country's science minister. The appointment is one of many made by Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who began naming his cabinet following his landslide victory in the July 4 election.

Patrick Vallance, a clinical researcher and former head of research and development at GlaxoSmithKline, takes on the role at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which saw several reshuffles and ministers during the Conservatives' 14-year rule.

The appointment of Vallance as a scientist who is not a member of parliament and has no ministerial experience appears to be a first for the science ministry. He was the government's chief scientific adviser under the Conservatives from 2018 to 2023 and shaped the government's response to the COVID pandemic.

Vallance's hiring is "a reassuring signal to the broader research community that they actually have someone who understands what they're doing and the limitations," says Jill Rutter, a former civil servant and researcher at the Institute for Government, a think tank in London. There is some precedent for filling the role with a non-politician, according to Rutter, noting that chief executive David Sainsbury held the position for eight years during Tony Blair's Labor government.

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Vallance will serve under Peter Kyle, who was appointed science, innovation and technology minister on July 5 and has a seat in Cabinet, the prime minister's most senior advisers. Kyle has held the science portfolio in Labour's shadow government since September 2023. The minister, who worked as a laborer and has a doctorate in community economic development, is likely to be welcomed by the industrial research community. In a post on

The full ministerial team for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has yet to be announced. Chris Byrant, who was previously shadow minister for creative industries and digital, has been appointed as a junior minister in the department. Chi Owurah, a long-serving shadow minister in the science, research and innovation team, has not yet been assigned a role.


Staatssekretär für Wissenschaft, Innovation und Technologie Peter Kyle geht zum Number 10 Downing Street.

In addition to Vallance, Starmer has also appointed other external experts to ministerial posts. Entrepreneur and chairman of the Prisons Reform Trust charity James Timpson will become justice secretary, and Richard Hermer, a lawyer with expertise in international law and human rights, will become advocate general, the government's top legal adviser. Since they were not elected as Members of Parliament, they are all elevated to the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament, which allows them to serve as ministers.

A “big plus” of appointing experts from outside politics is that they are less likely to seek higher political office, Rutter says. Vallance “will not be looking for a promotion to another office and hoping for a reshuffle,” she says.

The appointments of experts echo the actions of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's previous Labor government, which appointed non-politicians to some government departments, including the Department of Health, to install an "all-talent government team," says Kieron Flanagan, a science policy researcher at the University of Manchester, UK.