Matt Warman MP Appointed to Become New UK Digital Minister UPDATE

Yesterday saw the Government choose Nicky Morgan MP to become the UK’s new Culture Secretary (DCMS) – with responsibility for everything from broadband to media – and reporting to her will be a new Minister of State for DCMS in the shape of Nigel Adams MP and a new Digital Minister, Matt Warman MP.

Nigel (MP for Selby & Ainsty) has previously held political positions related to the Treasury, Housing / Local Government and the Wales Office. On top of that he voted Leave in the EU referendum, which could make for some awkward chats with Nicky Morgan who voted Remain.

In terms of Nigel’s history with broadband and mobile related matters, while serving as the Minister for Wales (his previous post) he helped to support the recent boost to the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme in Wales (here). Nigel has also supported the Superfast North Yorkshire project, which alongside Openreach (BT) is aiming to extend “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) coverage to 94% of local premises.

Nigel has been a strong supporter of the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and will now have the difficult task of helping to realise his pledge to have “fantastic full fibre broadband sprouting in every household” by the seemingly unachievable 2025 date. Hopefully some solid details about their strategy will emerge soon.

One interesting change we’ve noted is that Nigel’s full title makes him Minister of State for the whole of DCMS (here), while Matt Warman – MP for Boston & Skegness –  has been appointed as the new “Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.” In his acceptance speech Matt confirmed that he will have specific responsibility for Digital and thus takes over in the role from Margot James MP.

Matt Warman MP said:

“Honoured to be asked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to join the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State looking after digital. It’s a hugely important area for all our lives, as I know from my focus on improving broadband across Boston and Skegness, and it provides a hugely important part of the overall economy. Looking forward to getting stuck in.”

Warman is a former technology journalist at the Daily Telegraph and has a history of campaigning on broadband issues, which among other things included criticising how ISPs advertised their service speeds before the ASA eventually made changes to resolve it (here).

We should add that Warman voted Remain in the EU referendum (despite working for a Leave voting constituency) and last year said that broadband was a “top issue in my postbag.” Overall there appears to be some duplication of responsibilities in the new DCMS line-up so it will be interesting to see how things pan out over the next few months.

https://twitter.com/nadams/status/1154499307225010177

UPDATE 29th July 2019

Updated to confirm that Matt Warman – MP for Boson and Skegness – has now been appointed as the new “Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport” and will apparently replace Margot James MP in the digital role.