Following this summer’s consequential General Election, in which the Labour Party swept to power and ended 14 years of Conservative governance, many of the structures within Westminster decision-making changed almost overnight. Many MPs found themselves sitting on the opposite side of the House of Commons to which they had previously, stalwarts of British politics were dramatically unseated, and one of the largest cadre of new MPs to ever enter the House began their journeys in British national politics. Another consequence of this outcome was that the Parliamentary Select Committees, groups of MPs tasked with holding specific departments and topic areas to account, also shifted, with Chairs assigned to each political party determined by their representation in the wider House. However, one of the few Select Committee Chairs to retain their previous role following the election was Dame Caroline Dinenage, recently re-appointed to her role as Chair of the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee, who spoke to Forge Press about her role, career, and the future of politics in an increasingly polarised world.
The Rt. Hon. Dame Caroline Dinenage MP is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Gosport, on the Southern coast. She has been an MP continuously since 2010 and was re-elected for the fifth time in July’s General Election. She has held a range of Arts & Theatre-related positions during her time in Parliament, including as Minister of State for Digital & Culture from February 2020 to September 2021, under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Following this, Dame Caroline Dinenage became the Chair of the Parliamentary Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee from May 2023 until the General Election, following which she was re-elected to the role. Before entering Parliament, Dame Caroline Dinenage studied Politics & English at Swansea University and served on her local Winchester District Council.
Having recently been elected as Select Committee Chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage began by telling me about the importance of the Select Committee structures, their need to “scrutinise” the new administration and “hold the sectors […] to account” as the new government begins its tenure: “During my first year as Chair, the Culture, Media & Sport Committee not only scrutinised the Draft Media Bill, […] asked how ITV were preventing exploitation of junior staff in wake of the Phillip Schofield scandal and played a pivotal role in the changes the [England & Wales Cricket Board] have instituted to improve their DEI practices”. Asked about her priorities for the committee’s new term, she spoke about some of the widespread issues facing the department including “examining the health” of our cultural industries and examining the planned Football Governance Bill – “there is plenty for the Committee to get its teeth stuck into”.
Serving as a Minister for the Department of Culture, Media & Sport during the Covid-19 pandemic, Dame Dinenage had a unique situation on her hands, particularly as Minister for Digital & Culture: “Zoom became the new boardroom and Google the classroom. Online, there was endless misinformation, like that you could drink bleach to cure Covid”. Despite the challenges imposed, she told me that she was still able to achieve some impressive things during her tenure, including “the £1.57 billion” Culture Recovery Fund and the Film & TV Production Restart Scheme: “It meant the 3rd quarter of 2020 witnessed the third highest spend (£1.19 billion) on film and TV productions for any quarter on record since 2015, and extraordinary success in a pandemic!”. But despite her successes, it was also this brief that presented her with her hardest ministerial challenge: “Trying to quantify the economic value of sectors that are hard to put a figure on to secure the Culture Recovery Fund from the Treasury”, all whilst in a national lockdown.
It is no surprise that the creative industries are facing many serious issues, and Dame Caroline Dinenage is all-too familiar, but there is one issue in particular she was keen to point out currently facing creatives across the country and world, Artificial Intelligence: “It’s important to ensure technological advances don’t mean creators aren’t fairly remunerated, and the government will need to ensure that our future workforce have the skills to meet the demands of innovation in the modern world”.
And technological developments in AI aren’t the only frustrating issue facing consumers. Just before we spoke to Dame Caroline, she like many other people had missed out on tickets to the Oasis Live 25 Reunion Tour, which saw multiple technological issues, as well as the use of dynamic pricing, forcing fans to “make snap decisions over large sums of money”. It’s this “lack of transparency” that she believes warrant the most discussion: “Ticketing companies need to have honest conversations with fans before they enter a digital queue. We’re awaiting the outcome of the Competition and Markets Authority investigation which will help clarify the situation”, but will likely be one of the most high-profile issues the committee will deal with, once fully appointed.
But with so many issues facing our sector, many people may recall the complete absence of Culture, Media & Sport issues in this summer’s General Election, or in general discourse altogether – not even every party manifesto included measures for our industry. Asking Dame Caroline Dinenage whether these issues should be more visible and how we can make them so, her answer was resolute: “on every criteria that matters, the Culture, Media & Sport sectors have something vital to offer our nation […] but successive leaders have undervalued their importance”. Going further, she highlighted the economic importance of these sectors – “the creative industries alone are worth more than the aerospace, automotive, life sciences and oil and gas sectors combined” – but also its wider impact on the people of the U.K. and the places in which they live, speaking to “the power to bring communities together, to regenerate left-behind areas, and to expand our soft power by promoting the British brand abroad”.
Dame Dinenage may be a long-serving politician, but politics was not her first career, having established a manufacturing company at 19, and spending two decades as a director and secretary for her family firm. When asked about her previous career and how she began in the world of business, her family ties shone through: “Business felt like a natural path for me to take as my mum has her own business. I think it was a case of feeling like entrepreneurialism was in my DNA”. But it was this that ultimately brought her into the halls of The House of Commons, with local issues leading her to campaign within her community, before building to her council and Parliamentary career – “you could say I fell into politics by accident through my campaigning”. Her own experience is also her greatest advice for those seeking to get into politics. When asked about her advice to readers considering a career in politics, her answer was clear: “Having a ‘normal’ career beforehand”.
Like me, Dame Caroline Dinenage is no stranger to student media, having written for her own student newspaper during her time at Swansea, but even when away from home studying, her family’s influence was never far away: “I had applied to university to do an English degree, and whilst I was there I delved into student journalism…My dad’s influence must have played a part in that […] Those influences have served me well.” Dinenage’s father, Fred Dinenage, spent 38 years as a news anchor, working for networks such as ITV, and along with key politics modules during her career, set her up for her accomplished career in politics.
But politics is changing. Polarisation is now a core factor in many democracies, most notably in the United States, division is rife within communities, even within families, as rhetoric is ramped up to new extremes with the rise of online media, fake news and the influence of AI, as well as the development of more normalised, radical politics. As an MP who has sat in the House of Commons for 14 years, Dame Caroline Dinenage has seen politics evolve dramatically during her time, leading me to ask what can be done to tackle these divisions, and whether working cross-party may be the way forwards. “Parliament is truly at its best, and its most effective, when MPs work together” she told me. “That’s why Select Committees are so important as they do exactly that – bringing MPs of different striped together to make recommendations to the government”.
When asked whether there were any specific members she has particularly enjoyed working with, she was only too happy to share: “I am very lucky to have formed some great friends across the House over the years. Julie Elliot [Labour MP for Sunderland Central, 2010-2024], my deputy on the Culture, Media & Sport Committee last year, became a lovely pal. Wendy Chamberlain [Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife, 2019-Present] and I worked together to get a Private Members Bill on Carers Leave through the House, and we still work [together] through the Carers APPG [All Party Parliamentary Group]. Carolyn Harris [Labour MP for Neath & Swansea East, 2015-Present], my colleague on the Women & Equalities Committee [and] I also have great memories of a visit I made with Alex Davies-Jones [Labour MP for Pontypridd, 2019-Present] to Sierra Leone for International Women’s Month”.
It is no secret that the depths of challenges facing the country under the new government are significant, with public services, the environment, trust in politics, the justice system and many more facing existential crises that threaten civilisation as we know it. But the cultural industries are also facing existential threats and it is up to individuals, groups, the media, and politicians alike to ensure that the new Labour government deliver for those who find such sanctuary in the Arts & Theatre sector, whether practitioners, creatives or the general public. With the full Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee still to be elected, its leadership in Dame Caroline Dinenage seem ready to serve and make the case for the department so often forgotten in public life.
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP was re-elected as Chair of the Parliamentary Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee on September 9th. Once elected, all members of the Committee will be available here
