Starmer dealt trade blow as investment minister Gustafsson quits

The investment minister appointed by Sir Keir Starmer less than a year ago is to quit her role, dealing a fresh blow to the government's fledgling industrial strategy.

Sky News can exclusively reveal that Baroness Gustafsson of Chesterton, the former boss of cybersecurity firm Darktrace, intends to relinquish her ministerial role after just 11 months.

Sources said her departure could be announced in the coming days.

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One added that her successor was in the process of being lined up and could be announced shortly, although their identity could not be learned on Friday morning.

Baroness Gustafsson's resignation as a minister is said to be the result of her challenging professional schedule clashing with the demands of raising a young family, according to a person close to her.

Her departure from the ministerial ranks comes less than three months after Sir Keir Starmer's government launched its long-term industrial strategy, including an enhanced role for the Office for Investment - the agency responsible for generating billions of pounds of inbound trade for the UK.

At the time of her appointment last year, Baroness Gustafsson said: "It is a huge privilege to be appointed as the minister of investment, and I am excited to get started.

"I have first-hand experience of building and scaling a business here in the UK, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share with the international investment community what I already know to be true: the UK is a great place to do business."

The Department for Business and Trade declined to comment.

The Conservatives' shadow business secretary, Andrew Griffith, said in response to Sky News' revelation of Baroness Gustafsson's decision to quit the government: "This is zero surprise.

"Poppy has a decent claim for constructive dismissal given Labour's attacks on wealth creators, higher taxes and exodus of international investors since day one."

(c) Sky News 2025: Starmer dealt trade blow as investment minister Gustafsson quits