Nandy appointed DCMS Secretary
July 8, 2024
By Colin Mann
Lisa Nandy has been appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by new British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Nandy is the MP for Wigan in the northwest of England and prior to the dissolution of Parliament on May 30th, was Shadow Minister (International Development), at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office having been in that role since November 2023. She has been an MP continually since May 6th 2010. The appointment effectively represents a promotion for Nandy.
Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media And Sport, Thangam Debbonaire, had been expected to assume the role in government but lost her seat, requiring Starmer to adjust his plans.
Nandy was educated at Parrs Wood High School and Holy Cross College before studying politics at Newcastle University and public policy at Birkbeck, University of London. She then worked as an aide to Walthamstow MP Neil Gerrard, a researcher for homelessness charity Centrepoint and a senior policy adviser at The Children’s Society.
Nandy was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell from 2010 to 2012, Shadow Minister for Children from 2012 to 2013, and Shadow Minister for Charities and Civil Society from 2012 to 2015, with responsibility for Labour Policy on the voluntary sector. She served as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2015, shadowing Amber Rudd.
After a further four years as a backbench MP, Nandy stood as a candidate in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election. She was subsequently appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary in April 2020. From November 2021 to 2023, Nandy served as Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, she said it was “an unbelievable privilege to take on the role of Secretary of State @DCMS. The hard work begins today”.
Peter Kyle MP has been appointed Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology . Responsibility for digital policy was transferred to that Department in February 2023, having been the responsibility of the former Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport since 2017.