Lisa Nandy takes over as Minister for Culture, Media and Sport following Labour leader Keir Stramer’s victory on July 4 after 14 years of Conservative rule and 12 culture ministers.
Lisa Nandy succeeds Lucy Frazer, the former Conservative culture minister appointed by outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 2023. Thangam Debbonaire, the Labour shadow culture secretary, was tipped for the role but lost her seat in last week’s election.
Lisa Nandy, 44, born in Manchester, studied public policy at Newcastle University. A Labour MP for Wigan since 2010, she has held a number of government-related roles, including as an adviser to the Department of Housing, as parliamentary private secretary to the culture minister for the Olympics, Tessa Jowell, and as shadow secretary of state at the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Nandy came third in the 2020 Labour election. She has no significant experience of working in cultural circles.
The major challenge for the new minister is the support and even recovery of the artistic sector. Public funding continues to decline. Lisa Nandy has also set herself the goal of making culture more inclusive, particularly with regard to women and equal opportunities for disadvantaged social classes.
“The culture war is overhammered Lisa Nandy in her first investiture speech. The decisions of previous Conservative governments have deeply fractured public opinion and the world of culture around questions related to “wokeness”In 2022, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman (Liz Truss government) had launched a campaign against the “wokeism”a “culture war”.
The minister will be supported by the new Secretary of State Chris Bryant, Labour Party MP for Rhondda (Wales) since 2001. A graduate of Oxford and theology, this former priest of the Church of England held various posts in the previous Labour government of Gordon Brown (2007-2010).
