Being secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport is one of the best jobs in cabinet. It’s also the job that no one wants.
It’s the best because you’re essentially minister for fun. It’s the worst because it’s usually a sign that you’re on your way out – a consolation prize after demotion, or a place to exile a political rival.
Lisa Nandy, then, is hardly an unusual incumbent for the office, but she has seemed to enjoy it less than most of its other holders, with those in the sector struggling to attract the interest of Nandy, her advisers, or her department. As a result, Nandy is seen as one of the most surefire bets to leave her post at the next reshuffle.
In theory, that would leave the post free as a cushy consolation prize for another devotee, perhaps Bridget Phillipson, who is felt to have handled education poorly. But Keir Starmer’s No 10 is rumoured to be considering an even more radical plan – abolishing DCMS altogether.
Culture is one of the UK’s most successful sectors. It exports around the world, and it relies on a close relationship with government to create the right incentives to keep movie studios, streamers and others investing. So it would be a characteristic own goal to follow up having an indifferent minister with scrapping the department of a British success story entirely.
