DCMS Secretary survives Sunak’s shake-up as focus remains on white paper release

Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Michelle Donelan has retained her position in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s first cabinet. Donelan was appointed as head of the DCMS by former Prime Minister Liz Truss in her first cabinet that lasted just 44 days before she resigned after a disastrous six weeks in power. Sunak, who secured the overwhelming support of Conservative MPs to lead the party, swung the scythe yesterday to bring in his loyalists as the new government looks for a fresh start. Sunak disposed of 10 ministers as he welcomed back the likes of Michael Gove and Dominic Raab to the front bench. There were concerns Donelan could have been replaced during the reshuffle, which would have meant further delay to the much-anticipated white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review. Instead, with the backing of Sunak, Donelan could finally be the DCMS Secretary to bring the gambling white paper to light after a series of delays. The document remains with Number 10 having been delivered by former Gambling Minister Chris Philp to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this year. Donelan has previously been vocal regarding the dangers of gambling-related harm and was a key backer of reformation during the FOBT debate. The former Education Secretary previously said that gambling had “destroyed far too many lives” and has pushed the government on reducing problem gambling in her time as an MP. Donelan’s track record, which contrasted with Truss’ pro-business, anti-state approach, also appears to be at odds with Sunak’s own views on the industry. In January, Sunak wrote to DCMS Secretary Oliver Dowden with regards to affordability measures and its potential impact on the horseracing industry. Sunak’s constituency, Richmond Yorkshire, is home to Catterick racecourse, and stakeholders at the track have reportedly implored him to intervene in the review. The training hub of Middleham is also in his constituency. Additionally, the new Prime Minster wrote once again to the DCMS in March 2022 to raise concerns over measures. During his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sunak plunged £2m of British taxpayers’ money into betting exchange startup BetConnect as part of the government’s Future Fund designed to help “innovative UK companies that typically rely on equity investment to fund their growth”. Elsewhere, former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith claimed Donelan was “completely new to the idea [of the white paper]” and that the constant chopping and changing of ministers had had a severe impact on the document. Photo credit: UK Parliament website https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/