Rumour has it that Sir Gareth Roberts, president of both the Science Council and of Wolfson College, Oxford, has a number of heavyweight admirers in Whitehall. Sir Gareth - who established himself as a safe pair of hands with his reviews of the research assessment exercise and of the supply of people in science, engineering and technology - is being touted as a potential Science Minister. Officially, Sir Gareth is in the Science Council seat until 2007, but there is speculation that Lord May of Oxford, who retires as president of the Royal Society in December, could slip neatly into the space were it to become free.