George Freeman returns to government as science minister

George Freeman, the conservative MP who resigned as science minister in July, has been reappointed as a minister for science in Rishi Sunak’s new government.

Freeman previously served as science minister for nine months from September 2021 before resigning in protest at then prime minister Boris Johnson’s leadership. At the time, Freeman cited Johnson’s ‘lack of transparency and candour with parliament’ and ‘willingness to ask [his] ministers to mislead parliament’ as reasons for his resignation.