Culture minister seeks to ‘bury' claims his department will be shut down

Telegraph

22-05-2025

A Labour culture minister has sought to 'bury' rumours that his department is facing the axe in Downing Street's civil service efficiency drive.
No10 was poised to scrap Lisa Nandy's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in a move that would have put the Culture Secretary out of a job.
However, Sir Chris Bryant attempted to dismiss the revelation as a 'daft rumour' and insisted that axing the department would be 'absolute madness'.
He told the Commons: 'One of the worst things if we were to get rid of the department is that we'd have to get rid of the select committee as well, and for that matter the whole of the front bench – oh hang on, maybe it's a good idea.
'I'm not going to put this rumour to bed – I'm going to bury it, because in the words of Stephen Sondheim, I'm absolutely certain that in a year's time we will be able to sing as in the musical Follies, I'm Still Here.'
Max Wilkinson, the Liberal Democrat culture spokesman, said: 'He says he's burying the rumour about the abolition of DCMS, so why does he think that so many people here think it's going to happen, and why is it being briefed out to the press so often?'
Department 'touches lives of nearly everybody'
Sir Chris replied: 'Why on Earth is he perpetuating daft rumours? That's the question I want to ask myself. Honestly, the department is not going to be abolished. It would be absolutely madness.
'This department touches the lives of nearly everybody in the country every single day of the week, whether it's through sport, football, rugby, cricket, tennis, or it's through broadcasting or it's through our wonderful creative industries – so many different aspects of what we do touch everybody.
'I cannot see any way in which this department is going to be abolished.'
Axing the department would leave Ms Nandy out of work, and a decision would be needed on whether to create space for her elsewhere on the front bench. Currently there are no Cabinet vacancies.
It comes amid a power struggle at the top of Cabinet between Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner, revealed by The Telegraph, over tax and migrant access to state help.
A secret memo obtained by this newspaper revealed that Ms Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, had signed off a note recommending wealth taxes rather than spending cuts at the Chancellor's second fiscal event.
'Sends out a terrible message'
Dame Caroline Dinenage told the Commons on Wednesday: 'Rumours abound that the whole DCMS is for the chop. He must see that this sends out a terrible message to those sectors about how their Government values the power of those industries.
'So I wondered if he'd take the opportunity today to first of all put that rumour to bed, and if he can't, perhaps he'd like to take the chance to put on record that this would be a horrible idea.'
She added: 'Whether it's Bollywood, Hollywood or Borehamwood, I'm sure the minister will agree that our British cultural and creative industries are our global economic superpower.'
Sir Chris said that Ms Nandy, the Culture Secretary, was doing a 'very important job of building our relationship with Japan'.
Ms Nandy announced a new partnership with the country to boost cultural exchanges, with partners including Liverpool Football Club and University College London.
The culture department has had various iterations and titles during its three decades of existence. It was created by the Tories in 1992 as the Department of National Heritage and covered the arts, broadcasting, film, sport, architecture and historic sites, royal parks and tourism.
Formal advice on closing the Culture Department was drafted for Sir Keir's speech on March 13 when he announced the abolition of NHS England and vowed to tackle government 'bureaucracy'.
Ultimately, the announcement was not made then but The Telegraph understands that there remains interest in axing the department. No final decision has been made.