Nadine Dorries insists ‘top priority’ to widen access to culture and sport

Nadine Dorries, the 10th culture secretary in as many years, has said she wants to provide opportunities to get involved in the arts like she experienced back in the 1960s.

She told BBC Culture Editor Katie Razzall that her “top priority” in the role was to widen access to culture and sport highlighting her personal experience as she came from one of the poorest areas in Liverpool and her first theatre trip to see Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales when she was 10 years old was paid for by a charity.

In Dorries’ first broadcast interview since being appointed in September, she mentioned the government’s Culture Recovery Fund which was announced this week to provide £107m for 925 theatres, museums, cinemas and other cultural venues and organisations hard hit by the pandemic.

She also warned social media platforms that they have had “fair warning” about the upcoming Online Safety Bill which could force them to remove harmful content quickly or face fines, and even include prison time for trolls.

Other items on her agenda include the future of the BBC licence fee and the potential privatisation of Channel 4.

She was also outspoken about “cancel culture” and left-wing activists on social media.