May appoints MP with no digital experience to lead DCMS

IT leaders told us that they are "disappointed" in the choice

In a continuation of what is starting to look like a permanent state of ‘reshuffle' for this government, Prime Minister Theresa May has appointed attorney general Jeremy Wright as the new secretary of state for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, replacing Matt Hancock.

Hancock was outed and Wright appointed shortly after (former) foreign secretary Boris Johnson resigned and (again former) health secretary Jeremy Hunt put in his place.

If this game of political musical chairs continues, one appointee may, through the law of averages, even end up in a job that s/he has relevant skills in.

Wright, the MP for Kenilworth and Southam, has been attorney general for four years, but has been criticised for lacking understanding of the technology sector.

Even his social media - such as it is - has come under attack. He hasn't posted anything to his Twitter account, for example, since 2015 (and it still uses the ‘PPC' - Prospective Parliamentary Candidate - handle).

A link to his Facebook page, on the government website, does not work.

Wright has been a Conservative politician since 2003, but has mostly worked in the justice system. Prior to his role as attorney general, he was the parliamentary under-secretary at the Ministry of Justice.

By comparison, Hancock - although certainly not free from criticism - was seen as something of a cheerleader for the technology sector, with a history of campaigning to promote digital. He even launched his own app earlier this year, although it had its own privacy problems.

An IT leader at a major consumer goods firm told us:

"I don't think it makes sense. The digital world is changing so fast, with so many opportunities and challenges: how can you appoint someone who has no understanding of that? They should at least get someone who understands technology, even if they're not a technologist.

"The issue for me is that the Brexit conversation is looming large and the role of UK must be defined; we're trying to become the Silicon Valley of this side of Atlantic, and the government must put substantial efforts into that. I would like to see someone who has played an active role in technology, someone who has worked at one of the big firms like Microsoft or Facebook - it would send the right message to the community."

"This is just disappointing, to be honest."

Another head of IT, from a global e-commerce platform, said:

"There's an old adage: a bad day is a good time to put out a news story that you don't want anyone to read. Here's someone who doesn't seem at all qualified, but no-one is really paying attention because they're too concerned with trying to dissect the major cabinet changes.

"It's just odd appointing someone who doesn't have a passion for digital. In IT, the people you want are people with passion. That's what's changing the digital world; if you're putting someone without passion at the top, how are we - the UK - going to change? Is it the least important of his four areas: culture, sport, media and digital?

"In this government, where things look utterly out of control, maybe this makes sense."

Nick Ioannou, head of IT at Ratcliffe Groves Partnership, added: "I'd like to see how [Wright] deals with working through the government's online portals, or trying to connect to the internet in rural Wales. We need pick these people up and leave them in the real world, so that they can understand the challenges that people go through every day."