View from the top - the reshuffle

by Caroline_Norbury on 12-Jun-09 11:07

What a week – first we have a new Secretary of State at DCMS, and then today we hear that Stephen Carter is stepping down as Communications Minister.

Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, is the new Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Previously a Minister in the Department of Health and an ex-BBC journalist, Ben is also the Minister for the South West.  He lists opera and the theatre as some of his keen interests and is also rated as a mean disco-diva.  I’d say he also bears a slight resemblance to Rupert Everett, which is always a good thing in my view. His new role is a good move for us, as it gives us one point of contact for all things media- and South West related.

But the loss of Stephen Carter is worrying. For the first time ever the government actually seemed to be taking seriously the idea of “joined up government” by appointing Carter to sit across both culture and industry (DCMS and BERR to policy anoraks). Here we had a guy who had experience of working in the private sector, had a stint as a policy chief behind him and seemed to be genuinely passionate about the potential of a decent digital infrastructure for the UK. The long awaited Digital Britain report that Carter has overseen is published tomorrow and the concern must be that unless Gordon Brown appoints an equally experienced new boy (or girl, what a thought!) to push through the action required, Digital Britain will become yet another report to sit on the Whitehall shelf.

Tagged:Caroline Norbury, Westminster, Ben Bradshaw, Stephen Carter

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