Lewis Hamilton won an emotional British Grand Prix yesterday – and the man who presented him with the trophy was also celebrating a victory.

Peter Kyle has been named Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary after Labour won a landslide victory in the general election.

So who is Peter Kyle?

Kyle was first elected as MP for Hove and Portslade in 2015, and has twice been re-elected. In the September reshuffle, he was named Shadow Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary. Last week he increased his majority in Hove and Portslade to 19,791.

A former Shadow Secretary for Northern Ireland and Chair of the influential Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, he served on the high-profile Carillion and Thomas Cook inquiries. He also chaired the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Southern Rail, and on Further Education and Lifelong Learning.

Kyle has led campaigns in Parliament to protect victims of domestic abuse and reform family courts, to lower the voting age to 16, and – having campaigned for Remain during the EU membership referendum – he put forward an amendment to Theresa May’s Brexit Withdrawal Agreement alongside fellow Labour MP Phil Wilson. 

Dubbed the ‘Kyle-Wilson’ amendment, it aimed to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill on the condition that the deal on offer would go back to the British people through a confirmatory vote.

He has since spoken in favour of Labour accepting Brexit.

Tech sector reacts to Labour’s landslide general election victory

Kyle overcame difficulties with severe dyslexia to return to school aged 25 and achieve a PhD in community economic development from Sussex University. In his earlier career he worked as an aid worker in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, helping children and young people whose lives had been radically affected by war.  The orphanage he set up in Romania still exists today. 

He then moved on to work as a policy maker in the Cabinet Office, focusing on social exclusion.

Prior to his election Peter was deputy chief executive of ACEVO, the umbrella body for the voluntary sector, and he was head of youth employment charity Working for Youth.

After greeting Hamilton on the podium, he posted on X: “A total privilege to present @LewisHamilton with the winners trophy today.

“A true champion who’s a credit to his sport and country.

“F1 drives innovation, creates incredible high skilled jobs and boosts our reputation around the world.”

He recently told an audience at London Tech Week that “Britain is uniquely positioned to benefit from new technologies like AI” and also pledged that Labour would “place technology at the heart of our missions and unblock tech barriers to restart the engine of our economy”.

He has said small businesses have been “locked out of the procurement system” for government contracts by red tape.