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Culture Secretary Matt Hancock announced on Tuesday June 5th that he would not intervene in the bid by US cable giant Comcast to buy Sky – and also that he had approved a proposal from 21st Century Fox to sell Sky News to Disney if it was allowed to buy the rest of Sky.
The scene in the House of Commons on Tuesday for the ministerial statement was novel in one sense. Tom Watson was still leading for Labour, but was a “shadow” of his former self: 6 stone lighter than the old heavyweight version. And Matt Hancock, previously number 2 to Karen Bradley at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was now ensconced in a cabinet seat, his predecessor having transferred to Northern Ireland as a side-product of one of Theresa May’s regular resignation crises.
