Credentials of the Culture Secretary
New Labour's' Culture Secretary Smith is apparently in the doghouse. An all-party committee of MPs branded him last month (June 1998) as lightweight and ineffective, and accused him of dithering prevarication, triviality of mind and weakness in dealing with the Treasury. His name is also held in pretty low esteem in the world of arts, music and literature.
From the moment he took his ministerial seat, smith has been at pains, not to promote real British culture, but to identify himself with the inane expressions of 'Cool Britannia' - the cheap, the trashy, the shallow and the 'pop', rather than the nation's true artistic and cultural heritage.
Former MP George Walden, in a review of Smith's book Creative Britain, says that the writer has made a complete ass of himself by trying to espouse popular culture. According to Walden, Smith's pathetic wooing of popular taste, while starving the higher arts of necessary funding, is directly at variance with the Government's avowed aim of raising educational standards.
And A.N. Wilson, writing in the Daily Mail on June 11th (1998), spoke of Smith¼
"¼dashing about - in Bradford one day to visit the photography museum, popping into the South Bank theatre the next, going on the Today programme to promote his book, flying to Wales to make a speech on the Lottery, attending an Arsenal match, and finishing up at the Cannes film festival. "A more impressive Arts and Culture Secretary's diary would have had him leaving some time to read and listen to good music; and spending three quarters of his working time in Whitehall battling with the Treasury mandarins for much needed funds."
Such a record poses the question of why a philistine like Smith ever landed the job of Culture Secretary in the first place. Did the Prime Minister, before appointing him, not make some enquiry into his credentials - or lack of them - in that sector?
It all rather looks as if friend Chris was given the job for reasons other than his understanding of the arts and his dedication to supporting them.
Chris Smith, as the whole nation knows - because he has told us so - is 'gay'. Just as Rome in a phase of political insanity witnessed Emperor Caligula appointing his horse a consul, so this Government of 'New Labour' must have been under pledge to its most loyal supporters to have a token fairy in its cabinet. They call it 'equal opportunities', don't they?
Webmaster's note: This article was originally published in 'Spearhead' magazine No.353 July 1998.
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