Morgan retains DCMS brief
December 17, 2019
By Colin Mann
In a surprise move, Nicky Morgan is to continue as the UK’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport despite having stood down as an MP prior to the General Election.
Morgan has been made an unelected life peer to serve in parliament’s upper chamber, and will be called Baroness Morgan, a move which allows her to keep her Cabinet role.
In a tweet, Morgan said: “Well it turns out that leaving the Cabinet is harder than leaving the EU! Am delighted to continue as @DCMS Secretary of State as the PM focuses on delivering our mandate in the vital first weeks of this new Government”.
The reaction on social media to the move has been largely critical, accusing her of hypocrisy and lacking integrity, having said in 2018 that she would refuse to serve in a government led by Boris Johnson.
Labour MP Chris Bryant, a former shadow culture secretary, tweeted: “It stinks. You abandon your constituents, eschew the tough work of representing a constituency but remain in the Cabinet. That really is two fingers up to democracy.”