Where in the world is Drayson?

Labour’s claims to hold science at the heart of government have been somewhat undermined by the disappearance of the science minister in the run up to the election. Not only did business minister Pat McFadden stand in to respond to the Guardian’s queries on science but Drayson wasn’t around to speak to Research Fortnight, nor anyone else, about the science manifesto that he himself wrote. Nor did he answer questions posted via Twitter, on which the minister is usually quite prolific.

Meanwhile, the party’s press office wasn’t able to help because the document was “too specialist”. Is the game already up? Is Drayson looking forward to spending more time on the racetrack? Perhaps it should serve as a hint that, at the time of going to press, Drayson’s last known whereabouts were at a motorsport conference in California two weeks ago.