Dorries replaces Dowden to become 10th UK culture secretary in 10 years

UK prime minster Boris Johnson has appointed Nadine Dorries MP as the latest secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport.

Nadine Dorries

The appointment means Dorries becomes the 10th culture secretary in the past decade at the department, which is responsible for government policy relating to broadcasting, the internet, the creative industries and sport.

She replaces Oliver Dowden, who had held the position since February 2020 and has since been appointed minister without portfolio in Johnson’s new-look cabinet.

Dowden had been set to give a speech at the Royal Television Society  Cambridge Convention yesterday but pulled out at the last minute as news of cabinet reshuffle broke.

The minister had been due to set out his support for the controversial plans to privatise commercially funded pubcaster Channel 4. However, the speech, available to read here, was instead delivered via video by outgoing media minister and former culture secretary John Whittingdale.

Dorries had previously been the minister of state at the Department of Health and Social Care since May 2020 and was elected as the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire in May 2005. She also took part in the ITV reality show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2012.

The issue of the potential privatisation of C4, which has been widely condemned by the country’s indie TV sector and the broadcaster itself, will be top of the agenda for Dorries, alongside tighter regulation of global streamers such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney+.