Nandy vows to end ‘party politicisation’ of public appointments

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has pledged to end “needless party politicisation” of public appointments made by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to public bodies and organisations such as Arts Council England, the BBC and the British Museum. 

In an interview with Politics Home, Nandy also vowed to appoint more senior arts figures from outside London.

“I want to end the needless party politicisation of these appointments and draw on the widest pool of talent. But I also want to make sure that we appoint far more people from outside London and the South East,” said Nandy.

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“At the moment, only 30 per cent of appointments that have been made to those public bodies are from outside of London and the South East. 

“There is a wealth of talent and experience out there in the country that we’re just not drawing on. And for far too long, too many people in our communities have not been seen themselves, their families, their communities, their heritage and their inheritance reflected in our national story. I think that fed polarisation in this country."

She added: “On day one, one of the things that I asked the department to do was to make sure that when they bring shortlists to me and to Chris Bryant and Steph Peacock, who are the amazing ministers in this department, that they’re bringing us the widest possible pool of people with a particular emphasis on making sure that we reach people that we haven’t reached before.”

The Conservative party had previously faced criticism for interfering with cultural appointments.

It is understood that in March when final interviews were held for the new Director of the British Museum, the typical process of selection by trustees before informing the Prime Minister was upended when Downing Street requested that Rishi Sunak instead be presented with two options to give his verdict on – a request that was turned down by the museum’s chair, George Osborne.

There have also been suggestions of government interference with arm's-length bodies. This week, Labour peer Melvyn Bragg told The Telegraph he believes Arts Council England’s current Chair, Nicholas Serota, was “being leant on politically” when the organisation redirected £56m funding away from London in 2022 and required English National Opera to relocate to Manchester.