With a British election looming, researchers may be interested to hear that the Conservative Party seems to be struggling to find any MPs who are interested in science. A member of the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee fumed this week that since the departure of Tory MP Andrew Murrison several months ago, the party has failed to find anyone to take his place on the committee. None of those approached, including Virginia Bottomley, has deemed the research assessment exercise or the failed Beagle 2 Mars mission to be worthy of their time.