Jeremy Wright MP has been appointed as the new Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport after the promotion of Matt Hancock to Health Secretary.
Wright’s appointment follows a tumultuous 24 hours for the Prime Minister as Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, along with other ministers, resigned in opposition to the proposed “soft Brexit” deal struck at Chequers on Friday.
Wright is the third Culture Secretary in four years. He moves to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from his role as Attorney General, chief legal adviser to the Crown, which he held for four years.
Wright is a former criminal barrister. He was first elected as an MP in 2005 and currently represents the constituency of Kenilworth and Southam in Warwickshire.
Despite his new digital remit, he appears to have only created a Twitter account today, although it is yet to be confirmed whether it is an official account.
The account posted for the first time yesterday, saying: “I am very excited to take on this new brief and to leap wholeheartedly into a digital world.”
According to Hansard, the near-verbatim report of what is said in UK Parliament, here’s what Wright has had to say on various key news media topics, searched by Press Gazette.
Newspapers
“…it is a good idea to read the facts and not the newspaper headlines”
8 October 2013, during debate on privatising probation
Social media
“It is important for people to understand that social media is not ungoverned space. The law applies there as it does elsewhere. If those using social media engage in behaviour that would otherwise be criminal, they will find it is criminal there, too.”
27 October 2016, in a debate on vulnerable witnesses (speaking in capacity as Attorney General)
Picture: Reuters/Toby Melville
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