Woodward replaces Purnell as broadcasting minister
Links:
Also in DTG News ...
Britain has a new broadcasting minister, with responsibilities for overseeing the Government's 2008-2012 digital switchover timetable. Shaun Woodward, a former BBC producer, replaces James Purnell at the Department for Culture Media and Sport.
Woodward moves from a junior ministerial position in the Northern Ireland office under Tony Blair's sweeping ministerial reshuffle, while Purnell becomes pensions minister.
"Ten years of working in the broadcasting industry will undoubtedly help me both understand and promote the creative industries within Britain and across the world," said 47-year-old Woodward, a former researcher and editor of Esther Rantzen's That's Life!, and producer on Newsnight.
Culture secretary Tessa Jowell said: "I'm very pleased to welcome Shaun to DCMS. He arrives at an important time. I look forward to working with him on everything from digital switchover, to licensing, to keeping our film and music industries healthy and vibrant."
Woodward defected from the Tories to Labour in 1999. He was elected Labour MP for St Helens South in 2001 and re-elected in 2005.
Educated at Bristol Grammar School and Cambridge University, where he read English Literature, Woodward subsequently taught at The Institute of Politics, Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London University.
Links open in a new window. The DTG is not responsible for the content of other web sites.