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Two Indian-origin MPs join UK Cabinet in Burnham reshuffle
AI portfolio gains Cabinet status while Lisa Nandy takes on an expanded digital brief.
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Ankita Baidya - Tue, 21, Jul 2026
- 03:30 EDT
- 105
Kanishka Narayan and Lisa Nandy in UK Cabinet reshuffle, July 2026. / GOV.UK
Indian-origin Labour MPs Kanishka Narayan and Lisa Nandy have been appointed to key roles in the United Kingdom Cabinet following Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government reshuffle, with Narayan becoming minister for artificial intelligence with a Cabinet role and Nandy taking on an expanded portfolio as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Narayan, who represents the Vale of Glamorgan constituency in Wales, was first appointed minister for artificial intelligence and online safety in September 2025 under former prime minister Keir Starmer. He was elected to Parliament in the July 2024 general election, becoming Wales’ first ethnic minority Member of Parliament.
Also read: Modi congratulates Burnham, vows to deepen India-UK strategic ties
Burnham also appointed Jonathan Reynolds as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade after dissolving the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, folding its responsibilities into the Department for Business and Trade. The move is part of a broader restructuring aimed at consolidating economic, scientific, and technological policymaking under a single umbrella.
Also featured in Burnham’s reshuffle is Lisa Nandy, another Indian-origin lawmaker, who was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, according to her official government profile. The appointment expands her previous brief; she had served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport since July 5, 2024.
The department’s expanded remit reflects Burnham’s restructuring, which moved digital policy responsibilities into Nandy’s portfolio following the dissolution of the science department. As secretary of state, she now oversees strategy and policy across digital, cultural, and media sectors.
Nandy has represented Wigan as a Labour MP since May 6, 2010, according to official parliamentary records. Before entering government, she held several shadow Cabinet roles, including shadow foreign secretary, shadow secretary for levelling up, housing, communities and local government, and shadow minister for international development.
Prior to entering Parliament, she studied politics at Newcastle University and later earned a master’s degree in public policy from Birkbeck, University of London. She worked as a researcher at the homelessness charity Centrepoint from 2003 to 2005 and later as a senior policy adviser at The Children’s Society before entering Parliament in 2010.
Britain’s AI strategy continues to attract international attention due to the country’s strong technology ecosystem, which includes major research institutions, a robust venture capital market, and a deep engineering talent pool. Since leaving the European Union, successive governments have sought to position the UK as a global destination for technology investment by promoting a relatively flexible regulatory environment while encouraging innovation in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence.
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