# Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The secretary of state for culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The office has been dubbed "Minister of Fun".

## Responsibilities

The secretary has overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Responsibilities include:
* Arts and Culture
* Broadcasting
* Creative industries
* Creative Industries Council
* Cultural property, heritage and the historic environment
* Cultural Renewal Taskforce
* Culture, sports and arts sector recovery from COVID-19
* Gambling and racing
* Libraries
* Media ownership and mergers
* Museums and galleries
* The National Lottery
* Sport
* Tourism

## History

The office was created in 1992 by Prime Minister John Major, as Secretary of State for National Heritage. In his autobiography, Major says that, before the office was created, responsibility for cultural interests was shared among various departments, but important to none of them. For instance, arts and libraries, although a separate department, had no minister in the Cabinet, sport was part of the Department for Education, film was part of the Department of Trade and Industry, broadcasting was part of the Home Office, tourism was part of the Department for Employment and heritage was part of the Department of the Environment. He also wrote that the system tended to favour the interests of the articulate and well-connected London-based arts lobby.
Thus, when he became Prime Minister, Major said that he saw that the only way to give culture and sport the higher profile that he thought that they deserved was to establish a new department, under a minister of Cabinet rank, to bring together all aspects of the arts, sport and heritage.

## List of secretaries of state
### Secretary of State for National Heritage (1992–1997)

| Secretary of State | Term of office | Term of office | Party | Prime Minister |
| David Mellor MP for Putney | 11 April 1992 | 22 September 1992 | Conservative | John Major |
| Peter Brooke MP for Cities of London and Westminster | 25 September 1992 | 20 July 1994 | Conservative | John Major |
| Stephen Dorrell MP for Loughborough | 20 July 1994 | 5 July 1995 | Conservative | John Major |
| Virginia Bottomley MP for South West Surrey | 5 July 1995 | 2 May 1997 | Conservative | John Major |
| Chris Smith MP for Islington South and Finsbury | 2 May 1997 | 22 July 1997 | Labour | Tony Blair |

### Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1997–2010)

| Secretary of State | Term of office | Term of office | Party | Prime Minister |
| Chris Smith MP for Islington South and Finsbury | 22 July 1997 | 8 June 2001 | Labour | Tony Blair |
| Tessa Jowell MP for Dulwich and West Norwood | 8 June 2001 | 27 June 2007 | Labour | Tony Blair |
| James Purnell MP for Stalybridge and Hyde | 28 June 2007 | 24 January 2008 | Labour | Gordon Brown |
| Andy Burnham MP for Leigh | 24 January 2008 | 5 June 2009 | Labour | Gordon Brown |
| Ben Bradshaw MP for Exeter | 5 June 2009 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Gordon Brown |

### Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (2010 - 2012)

| Secretary of State | Secretary of State | Secretary of State | Term of office | Term of office | Party | Prime Minister | Prime Minister |
| | | Jeremy Hunt MP for South West Surrey | 12 May 2010 | 4 September 2012 | Conservative | | David Cameron |

### Secretaries of State for Culture, Media and Sport (2012–2017)

| Secretary of State | Secretary of State | Term of office | Term of office | Party | Prime Minister |
| | Maria Miller MP for Basingstoke | 4 September 2012 | 9 April 2014 | Conservative | David Cameron |
| | Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove | 9 April 2014 | 11 May 2015 | Conservative | David Cameron |
| | John Whittingdale MP for Maldon | 11 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 | Conservative | David Cameron |
| | Karen Bradley MP for Staffordshire Moorlands | 14 July 2016 | 3 July 2017 | Conservative | Theresa May |
| In 2017 the DCMS was renamed to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in acknowledgement of the increasing responsibility the department had gained for Digital affairs. Karen Bradley continued as Secretary of State for the department. ||||||||

### Secretaries of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (2017–2023)

| Secretary of State | Term of office | Term of office | Party | Prime Minister |
| Karen Bradley MP for Staffordshire Moorlands | 3 July 2017 | 8 January 2018 | Conservative | Theresa May |
| Matt Hancock MP for West Suffolk | 8 January 2018 | 8 July 2018 | Conservative | Theresa May |
| Jeremy Wright MP for Kenilworth and Southam | 9 July 2018 | 24 July 2019 | Conservative | Theresa May |
| Nicky Morgan MP for Loughborough (until November 2019) Life peer (since January 2020) | 24 July 2019 | 13 February 2020 | Conservative | Boris Johnson |
| Oliver Dowden MP for Hertsmere | 13 February 2020 | 15 September 2021 | Conservative | Boris Johnson |
| Nadine Dorries MP for Mid Bedfordshire | 15 September 2021 | 6 September 2022 | Conservative | Boris Johnson |
| Michelle Donelan MP for Chippenham | 6 September 2022 | 7 February 2023 | Conservative | Liz Truss |
| Michelle Donelan MP for Chippenham | 6 September 2022 | 7 February 2023 | Conservative | Rishi Sunak |

### Secretaries of State for Culture, Media and Sport (2023–present)

| Secretary of State | Secretary of State | Secretary of State | Term of office | Term of office | Party | Prime Minister | Prime Minister |
| | | Lucy Frazer MP for South East Cambridgeshire | 7 February 2023 | 5 July 2024 | Conservative | | Rishi Sunak |
| | | Lisa Nandy MP for Wigan | 5 July 2024 | Incumbent | Labour | | Keir Starmer |