John Whittingdale. Image: Mediatel
John Whittingdale's years as Private Secretary (PPS) to Margaret Thatcher make him a useful right-wing balance in Cameron's cabinet structuring. More to the point, though, he will be the first Culture Secretary to know more about his brief than any of his civil servants, having been a close follower of media affairs since his early days as a backbencher, and shadow Culture Secretary a dozen years ago whilst the Tories were in opposition. Since succeeding Gerald Kaufman as chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Whittingdale has energetically pursued issues from premium phone line and phone-hacking abuses to child protection, media plurality, BBC Charter renewal and local media ownership, with impressive vigour.
It is unusual to pluck a cabinet minister from a Commons committee chair: the traffic is usually the other way - Ben Bradshaw is a former Culture Secretary now on Whittingdale's panel. The DCMS posting is often seen as a stepping stone to higher office, with the result that high-flying occupants rarely stay long, especially as it is by far the smallest Whitehall department. Under Labour, James Purnell and Andy Burnham spent the minimum of time at Cockspur Street before moving on.
