Minister for Fun

Rt Hon James Purnell MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, gave a Keynote address at the Progress Annual Conference this Saturday. He was introduced as the Minister for Fun, which I suppose makes sense, as he described his most recent duties had including attending the World Cup and visiting the theatre! Seriously though, Culture, Media and Sport is a really important for the health and well being of the nation, and so it was interesting to hear what he had to say.

He said that the way to win the next election would be by making progress, with the power tranferred, wherever possible, to the people. He said we need to personalise the public services, and that cannot be done centrally.

James was asked a number of questions following his speech. One of the questions was based on the media accusation that Brown is more socially conservative (small c!) than Blair with regards to issues such as booze, gambling and the internet. James took the middle ground in his response, saying that there is always a balance to be struck between freedom and responsibilty. Another question was from a representative from Labourhome.org. He asked how James proposes to really let people become engaged with politics through new media. James said that new media is changing the way politics works. James made a really pertinent point about how new media needs to be used for effective communications and not just to show (or pretend) that politicans are leading edge.