Oliver Dowden: "Not everyone is going to be happy"
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden tells Julian Glover the arts are "central to the strength, resilience and reputation of London” and "we would be absolutely crazy to throw it away”.
For the last month, Oliver Dowden’s been pushing to get live Premier League football back on the pitch. Now he has a confession to make. “It’s rather ironic that I spend a lot of time talking about football ... given that I have never been a huge football fan.”
Many politicians wouldn’t be brave enough to admit it — especially if they were the Cabinet minister in charge of sport. They’d fake an obsession with a famous team. He’s different. “I support my local team, Boreham Wood FC,” he says, loyally — currently playing somewhere in the National League — but says sport is not the bit of the job he likes most. What is? “Arts and culture have always been a real passion of mine.”
That’s lucky, since right now the Culture Secretary may be all that stands in the way of an artistic Armageddon... Keep reading on Evening Standard
For the last month, Oliver Dowden’s been pushing to get live Premier League football back on the pitch. Now he has a confession to make. “It’s rather ironic that I spend a lot of time talking about football ... given that I have never been a huge football fan.”
Many politicians wouldn’t be brave enough to admit it — especially if they were the Cabinet minister in charge of sport. They’d fake an obsession with a famous team. He’s different. “I support my local team, Boreham Wood FC,” he says, loyally — currently playing somewhere in the National League — but says sport is not the bit of the job he likes most. What is? “Arts and culture have always been a real passion of mine.”
That’s lucky, since right now the Culture Secretary may be all that stands in the way of an artistic Armageddon... Keep reading on Evening Standard