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Life changes for new culture secretary
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be the first to commentPosted by Adam Christie
Free Press editor Adam Christie offers some thoughts about how life suddenly changed today for one Conservative MP.
POISONED chalices come in many forms – but Sajid Javid MP was handed one today.
The departure of Maria Miller as culture secretary may end speculation about one political hot topic, but life for her successor is likely to change dramatically and quickly.
When the Bromsgrove MP arrives at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport headquarters in London he walk into an existence where he is courted by some of the country’s most powerful – and simultaneously the target of furious, and fearful, lobbying by others.
Mr Javid has been handed the future of press regulation – a contentious matter that, despite the time that has passed since the Leveson Report was published, is still unresolved.
Today’s media barons – particularly Rupert Murdoch, with former Sun political editor Trevor Kavanagh still frequently appearing to act as this particular god’s earthly mouthpiece, but followed closely in terms of patch-protection by Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre – seem to want to monitor their own activities, despite the legacy of phone-hacking and their national newspaper marked domination.
(Ironically, their papers today were still implying simultaneously that MPs could not be trusted to police themselves while they could. Hypocrisy has become so profligate that such occasions no longer leave jaws dropping in astonishment.)
So, what can the newcomer expect?
Approaches from anyone linked to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), the proprietors’ replacement for the discredited Press Complaints Commission, are likely in quantity as are invitations where the new secretary of state will encounter, if not formally meet, some of those closest to IPSO.
Arguments about regulation for primarily the London-based national newspapers with statutory underpinning has not yet been resolved satisfactorily for many. This issue has not gone away.
Nor too has the debate about plurality. Mr Javid has inherited the potential debacle of his predecessor Jeremy Hunt's pet project - local television. With newspaper proprietors winning or close to some franchises, Ofcom effectively handed another political hot potato back to the secretary of state.
Campaigners across Europe are promoting a petition to try to highlight the disproportionate influence that Mr Murdoch and Senor Berlusconi have had - with implications that the DCMS cannot avoid.
Speculation about Mr Javid's approach has already started. His political judgment is now under greater scrutiny than ever. One certainty is that his personal and political life has changed forever.
DATELINE: 19 June, 2014
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