I would not have been a minister under Tories, says Labour’s Patrick Vallance

Lord Vallance made clear that if he had been asked by Rishi Sunak to consider serving in a Tory government, he would have said no. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

The Labour minister Patrick Vallance, who helped spearhead the country’s response to the Covid pandemic, has said he would not have served as a minister in a Conservative government.

The former UK government chief scientific adviser was made a peer and appointed science minister this year after Keir Starmer’s party swept to victory in the general election. And he made clear on Thursday that, if he had been asked by Rishi Sunak to consider serving in a Tory government: “I wouldn’t have done, no.”