Liz Kendall is another classic example of the career politician conveyor belt that dominates modern UK politics.
- Born 1971
- School
- History at Cambridge (ok, not PPE this is the best of her CV in my view)
- Think tank / policy roles (IPPR on health/early years/child development, researcher at Kingās Fund)
- Special adviser (to Harriet Harman at Social Security, then Patricia Hewitt at Trade & Industry and Health)
- Charity / sector roles (Director of Maternity Alliance, Ambulance Services Network) because around half Labour MPs have to come from public advocacy positions - because, reasons
- MP for Leicester West (2010āpresent)
- Shadow ministerial roles (Health/Care under Miliband - lol, later Social Care and Work & Pensions under Starmer)
- 2015 Labour leadership candidate (Blairite lane, came DEAD LAST with ~4.5%)
- Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2024ā2025)
- Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (2025āpresent)
She has spent her entire adult life in the public sector, think tanks, charities, special adviser gigs, and politics with zero experience in the private sector, technology companies, engineering, computer science, startups, scaling businesses, or anything resembling building or commercialising actual technology/innovation. That she is now the government appointed minister for technology is absolutely mental but also entirely predictable.
Her background is overwhelmingly in health policy, social care, maternity, welfare reform, and early years - perfectly respectable areas I guess - but entirely unrelated to leading on AI, emerging tech, digital infrastructure, R&D strategy, or innovation policy for a G7 economy. Probably the last type of person youād want as minister for technology at this crucial time as we pivot into the AI/automation age.
She has openly described herself as āa historianā rather than an engineer or computer scientist, and admitted she does not use AI in her professional work as the minister responsible for it (only personally for minor tasks). Sheās doesnāt even use the tech! Itās just all so stupid.
This is precisely why critics argue she is (and many like her are) unfit for the role.
The Science, Innovation and Technology brief demands domain understanding of fast-moving, high-stakes technical fields critical to national security, productivity, and growth. Instead, we get another generalist reshuffled through the Fabian/public-policy/NGO carousel - floating between departments with 1-3 years per brief before being moved on, selected for political loyalty and ideological alignment over proven competence or real-world results in the sector they oversee.
The UKās chronic productivity stagnation, brain drain, and struggles in tech/innovation arenāt mysterious to me or anyone with functioning grey matter. When the system systematically promotes people with no skin in the game of markets, risk, or delivery in the actual economy - and insulates them from feedback loops that punish failure - this is the predictable outcome. Liz Kendallās career path is textbook evidence of the problem.
See many others - including my best mate Dan Tomlinson in HMT š¤£
Iām only occasionally harsh on Kendall talking about technology (see the Ā£1.1bn for āAI Hardwareā) because I thought she was being asked about things outside her brief.
I now see her job is Technology Minister and I want to apologise. I should have been more harsh, more often.
This is a āHarold Shipman, Minister for the Elderlyā situation. Dangerously dim, and with objectives in opposition to the brief.