KENNETH CLARKE, AS NUMBER TWO TO LORD YOUNG, TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

For those who scanned the lists of new junior ministers in the UK government and searched in vain for a successor to Geoffrey Pattie as Information Technology Minister, the explanation is that there isn’t one: that’s the bad news; the good news is that Kenneth Clarke, in the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster but in effect number two to Lord Young at the Department of Trade & Industry, is expected to take on responsibility for information technology, giving it a voice in Cabinet for the first time.