Lisa Nandy (Labour, Wigan) has been named as the new Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport. As the dust settled on the General Election, Prime Minister Keir Starmer set to work almost immediately appointing his new Cabinet. Less than an hour after entering Number 10 Downing Street, the first of his Labour colleagues began arriving to be formally appointed to their briefs. A mix of those we expected and a few new additions, Starmer’s Cabinet has been hailed as one of the most representative in history.
During the results on Thursday night, through Friday and into Saturday morning, we saw a range of high-profile figures, mainly from the Conservative Party, lose their seats and miss their chance to be re-elected into the new Parliament. This included high profile figures including Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt (who lost Portsmouth North to Labour) and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (losing Chichester to the Liberal Democrats), along with a large number of other Conservative Cabinet members.
But among those who lost their seats were also Lucy Frazer, who sat as the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport and lost to the Liberal Democrats as well as Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport Thangam Debbonaire who lost to Green Party Co-Leader Carla Denyer in Bristol Central. So now that the tables have turned and Labour are in power, who has been appointed to Debbonaire’s now empty brief?
Following the appointment of more senior positions in his Cabinet, it was announced that Keir Starmer appointed Lisa Nandy, MP for Wigan, as the new Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport. Formerly the Shadow Minister for International Development, Nandy has been an MP for the seat continuously since May 2010, the election which saw the last transition of power between the Conservative and Labour parties. She has held a range of positions in her time in the Commons, including Shadow Minister for Children & Young Families, and Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change.
Since Starmer’s tenure as Labour Leader began, she’s had three Shadow Cabinet roles before her latest appointment, namely Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs (April 2020 – November 2021), Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (November 2021 – September 2023) and finally Shadow Minister for International Development (September 2023 – July 2024). This is her first brief within the Department of Culture, Media & Sport.
Nandy is not alone in her new department, with a range of ministerial appointments for both MPs and Lords joining her. Returning to a culture-based ministerial role, Chris Bryant (Labour, Rhondda & Ogmore) is joining both the Department of Culture, Media & Sport and the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology, roles which he held whilst in Opposition. He takes on the brief of Minister for Media, Tourism & Creative Industries. Similarly re-adopting her shadow role in government, Stephanie Peacock (Labour, Barnsley South) has been appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the department. As well as her time in her role, she has also spent periods as an Opposition Whip and as Minister of State for Veterans Affairs.
Across the Commons and having been relegated to Opposition, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also announced his new interim team, after half of his Cabinet members lost their seats. He will lead the Opposition until a new leader has been decided. The new appointments include Julia Lopez (Hornchurch & Upminster) who has become the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport after Lucy Frazer lost her seat. Lopez was a Minister in the department during the Sunak administration and has been promoted in the Shadow Cabinet to fill the vacant position. However, as the Conservative Party are in the process of determining their new leader, this may only be an interim appointment.
Whilst further ministerial appointments are expected, as well as Culture Spokespeople for smaller parties, current appointments to both the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet seem to be exercises in continuity, unlike many other places in Starmer’s new Cabinet. As the new administration begins its term and the Opposition begin to regroup after the tumultuous election, Arts & Theatre representation is entering its next era, with new figureheads on both sides
The 2024 U.K. General Election was held on July 4th. The House of Commons began sitting on July 9th
