The new UK Labour Government's space minister will be John Battle, who also has responsibilities for telecommunications, science, technology, energy and the environment. Battle replaces the Conservative, Ian Taylor, one of the UK's most successful space ministers. Taylor influenced reforms of the European Space Agency, formalised a new UK space plan which consolidated the joint strengths of industry and academia, and overruled a previous UK decision not to participate in the Ariane 5 programme.
Source: Flight International