Hove and Portslade MP Peter Kyle has been promoted in the cabinet reshuffle triggered by the resignation of Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Kyle becomes the Business and Trade Secretary, having served as the Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary since Labour won the general election in July last year.
He also takes the historic title of President of the Board of Trade, a post held previously by the former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister Michael Helsetine and the former Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd-George.
Angela Rayner resigned after she was found to have underpaid stamp duty on the £800,000 flat that she bought on Hove seafront earlier this year.
Yesterday, graffiti about tax evasion was sprayed on the wall outside her home, seen by some as the writing on the wall.
Well done Peter, it was worth nipping out last night with those spray cans 🤣🤣
Great for Peter Kyle as he comes over as being a pleasant man and not dishonest, compromised and tragically useless like most of his colleagues. But business secretary? Really is there no one that has got any kind of business background in the Labour Party that could have done this job? He worked in the charity sector before becoming an MP.
The Charity Sector is the Business Sector with extra steps.
Peter Kyle should be ashamed of himself, flogging the online safety bill.
It absolutely is not and this comment comes over as being insulting or ignorant at best to people that have built up businesses and are funding this country through their hard work. We need a business secretary that understands what it is to run a business. Not taxes us are and more and expects businesses to succeed so the Labour Party can fritter away our hard earned money on paying th tax bills of Mauritians by paying to give away the Chagos Islands to them or inviting all of the third world to come and stay for free in our hotels.
I think you miss the point of a reshuffle. No matter the party colour. Once someone gets used to a job they are moved to somewhere totally new that has no connection with anything they did before so they can incompetently flail around until they learn the job. Just in time to be reshuffled again.
Government is such a mad world of putting people into posts they are not qualified for
A PM has a limited pool of candidates to choose from – whatever their party.
Yes Minister described it well. You have a third of MPs who would be basically useless at ministerial work. A third who don’t want to be ministers. Leaving you with a third to appoint from.
The US system is no better even though ministers aren’t part of the legislature it’s no guarantee of getting a qualified and competent appointment.
Shame he forgot to register his freebie Taylor Swift tickets in time last year…
Weird how remembered to declare them after all the free gear Keir fuss had died down, the timing meant his freebies got less media pick up as a result… But completely coincidental, and not declared late for any other reason other than a genuine oversight…
If you bother to do your research you’ll find that Peter Kyle has had a number of small business connections.
For example, when he first left school Peter worked for the Body Shop and he was personally mentored by Anita Roddick.
It was she who recognised his talent, and who encouraged him to go to university.
In those early days Peter’s dyslexia had been undiagnosed.
Roddick very famously started her business with very little money, and with the first Body Shop being in Brighton.
Working with people like Roddick gave Peter an understanding of how small businesses can grow into bigger brands, and it was their long term friendship that also led him to work in the charity sector.
We can now see that someone who is positive about business and business growth will also be aware of business responsibilities and ethics, and Mr Kyle has the potential to be a very hands on business minister.
“Great for Peter Kyle as he comes over as being a pleasant man and not dishonest, compromised”
Sarcasm?
Growth is the number 1 aim of this government. Where is it going to come from? Not any ideas Peter comes up with for sure.
Peter Kyle is one of a few politicians I genuinely have faith in. Well deserved.
So his job is now to encourage inward investment into the UK and to promote trade with the rest of the planet.
I look forward his success but won’t be holding my breath….
Peter Kyle received £66,000 from tech company Public Digital in 2024, Later on, in July this year, Peter Kyle issued a £5m government contract to the tech company, the same one that gave him tens of thousands. On top of that, Kyle’s office appointed Public Digital employee Emily Middleton to government, on a public salary of over £128,000 per year. Mmmmmmmm…………………………..