Former Scotland Secretary joins DCMS as Chris Bryant departs

IAN MURRAY MP has been appointed Minister of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), succeeding Sir CHRIS BRYANT MP, who moves to become Minister for International Trade and Economic Security at the Department for Business and Trade.

The appointments were made over the weekend by Prime Minister KEIR STARMER in a cabinet reshuffle prompted by the resignation of former Housing Minister ANGELA RAYNER on Friday, 2 September, following concerns about underpaid stamp duty on her flat in Hove.

Despite previous briefings against her, Culture Secretary LISA NANDY held onto the top role at DCMS.

Murray, Labour’s longest-serving Scottish MP, was one of the first ministers to lose a job. In a statement after his sacking as Minister for Scotland but before his appointment to DCMS, Murray declared he was “hugely disappointed to be leaving government with so much done and so much more to do”, adding that he was looking forward to “spending a little more time with my wife and two beautiful girls, while continuing to serve the wonderful people of Edinburgh South”.

Before becoming an MP in 2010, Murray worked in finance at Aegon and then joined an arts-based internet TV station as its operations director. He has also served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Murray, also becomes Minister for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, taking over from Bryant, who held the dual role since Labour’s election win last July.

Writing on X, Bryant said it had been “a great joy to work with the creative industries, arts, tourism, museums, telecoms, data, space and digital inclusion sectors for the last fourteen months”.

In response to comments asking what he’d achieved during his tenure he listed: “Bayeux tapestry agreement, new tax reliefs for indie films, better deal for artists from record deals, per diems [for] song writers, increased capital funds for museums and arts organisations, creative industries sector plan with cash for games and music and that’s just on DCMS side,” adding that the ministerial move was “not a demotion”.