Oliver Dowden: Last News

Kim Kardashian has arrived on the red carpet at the 2022 Met Gala in a gown worn by Marilyn Monroe, which she paired with a newly blonde hairdo. On Monday, The Kardashians star made her debut on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her boyfriend, comedian Pete Davidson. For the occasion, the Skims founder chose a bedazzled sheer beige floor-length gown, which was previously worn by Monroe in 1962 to serenade President John F Kennedy on his 45th birthday.

A Tory MP who watched porn on his mobile phone in the House of Commons should be expelled from the party, a Home Office minister has said.

Reports that a Tory MP was watching pornography on his phone while in the Commons chamber are being investigated.

A second Bury Conservative election candidate has been ditched by the party after an ‘anti-Semitic’ social media post emerged. Shaf Mahmood, who was selected by the Tories as one of their three candidates for the Redvales ward has had his endorsement from the party revoked today, the district association revealed.

Channel 4, which would result in the broadcaster being sold off after 40 years in public ownership.As reported by The Guardian, the government is hoping to raise close to £1billion, with the money potentially being used for creative training and for independent production companies.Last year, former Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that the privatisation of Channel 4 was “needed” in order for it to “compete with the streaming giants”.“Without [more money], Channel 4 won’t have the money to invest in technology and programming, and it won’t be able to compete with the streaming giants,” he said, according to Sky News.Earlier in the year Ricky Gervais spoke out against the potential sale of Channel 4, calling it “a real shame”.“For almost 40 years, Channel 4 has been a launch pad for new ideas and new talent,” he wrote on Twitter. “It’s been able to do that because of its remit and not-for-profit structure and it would be a real shame if that was destroyed by selling off the channel.”Channel 4’s chief executive, Alex Mahon, revealed the news to staff on Monday (April 4): “We have been informed in the last hour that the government will shortly announce that the secretary of state has decided to proceed with the proposal to privatise Channel 4,” she wrote in an email.“In our engagement with the government during its extended period of reflection, we have proposed a vision for the next 40 years which we are confident would allow us to build on the successes of the first 40.

A group of the UK’s senior Conservative Party politicians has written to the Prime Minister, expressing grave concerns about the prospect of selling off public broadcaster Channel 4 and writing, “Channel 4 isn’t broke, and doesn’t need fixing.”

Martin Compston and the AC-12 team have carried out their biggest interrogation yet - with Boris Johnson in the hot seat.

EXCLUSIVE: As the BBC dominates the headlines and the future of the licence fee is placed in doubt, another major British public broadcaster Channel 4 looks set to have to wait longer to discover the fate of its own future-defining government decision on privatization.

Boris Johnson is facing mass scrutiny as it has been alleged that Downing Street staff held two parties the night before Prince Philip's funeral - at a time when Covid restrictions banned indoor mixing.Taking to social media, Countdown star Rachel Riley has shared her thoughts on the government’s actions in a scathing tweet.The newest reports of illegal Downing Street parties, first brought to light by The Telegraph, say that the events took place on April 16, 2021, and went on until the early hours.Boris is facing calls to resign from the opposition as well as some senior Tories but has urged MPs to wait for the outcome of an investigation into lockdown gatherings in government buildings by senior civil servant Sue Gray.Taking to Twitter Rachel, 36, shared a video of Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips recalling the death of his own daughter during this period. Rachel tweeted out to her 693,200 followers: “As more and more has trickled out about party after party, the image of the Queen sitting alone at her husband’s funeral, and stories like @TrevorPTweets really put the behaviour of the government into perspective. “Disgraceful and disrespectful spring to mind,” she added.The tweet she shared read: “Trevor Phillips shares his experience during lockdown, when one of his daughters was very ill.“She died not long after the funeral of Prince Philip, when it is alleged that those working for the government met despite Covid rules.”The video clip attached came from Trevor Phillips on Sunday, where the presenter could be seen trying to restrain his emotions as he challenged Oliver Dowden, one of the party’s co-chairs, over whether the prime minister understood public anger over these gatherings.During the interview, Trevor

Trevor Phillips tearfully recalled the death of his daughter in lockdown during the same weekend No10 staff partied.

Boris Johnson is facing fresh allegations that he and dozens of Downing Street staff broke lockdown rules last May with a boozy party in the Number 10 garden during the height of the nationwide lockdown.

Channel 4 says she doesn’t believe that the station is a “left-wing organisation,” amid talk of privatisation.Earlier this year, then-Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that the privatisation of the channel is “needed” in order for it to “compete with the streaming giants”.Dowden then suggested that the additional money needed can come either “on the back of the taxpayer” or from private investment.In a new interview with the Telegraph, station boss Alex Mahon discussed the potential plans, and outlined her beliefs on what Channel 4 stands for.“I don’t think we are a left-wing organisation,” she said.

UK culture secretary Nadine Dorries has signalled it could be some time until she has an answer on the privatization of Channel 4, as she says she is “only interested in how Channel 4 will survive in the future.”

Manori Ravindran International EditorOver a month after her shock Culture Secretary appointment amid a dramatic cabinet reshuffle, Nadine Dorries (pictured, right) has at last met with the CEO of the U.K.’s “It’s a Sin” broadcaster Channel 4, which Boris Johnson’s government has threatened to put on the sales block.Variety can reveal that Channel 4 boss Alex Mahon (pictured, left) met this week with Dorries in what was the pair’s first meeting since the latter MP took over from Oliver Dowden as Culture Secretary.

People will be able to buy toys at Christmas despite concerns over stock shortages and price rises, a government minister has said.

A Tory minister has defended Boris Johnson for going on holiday while the UK faces energy shortages and problems recruiting much-needed HGV drivers.

Naman Ramachandran Newly appointed U.K. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries delivered the opening keynote at the London Tech Week conference on Monday with a promise of “stable digital regulation.”Dorries, whose full official title is Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said that she would deliver on the U.K.

Happy Friday International Insiders. Tom Grater here coming to you live from the San Sebastian Film Festival with the week’s top international news. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.

Boris Johnson‘s significant cabinet reshuffle yesterday (September 15), Dorries has taken on the job as head of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), replacing Oliver Dowden.Following Dorries’ appointment, many across the music and culture industry have been sharing previous opinions and comments from the new chief, including when she claimed that comedy was being killed by “left-wing snowflakes” and that the BBC was “a biased left-wing organisation which is seriously failing in its political representation, from the top down”.One tweet, from 2017, has been widely shared since yesterday’s appointment.

Manori Ravindran International EditorBBC director general Tim Davie has said that the government’s shock cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, which saw the ousting of yet another Culture Secretary, points to a dire need for a “really serious, grown-up” government to discuss the future of the creative industries.Davie, whose Thursday morning keynote opened the second and final day of the Royal Television Society convention in Cambridge, said he had yet to “make contact” with new Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who replaced Oliver Dowden on Wednesday, but that it was “too early to make any conclusions.”“We’re on 10 culture secretaries in last 10 years,” said Davie.

Tim Davie, the BBC’s Director-General, has said the broadcaster needs “a really serious dialogue with government” in the context of Nadine Dorries replacing Oliver Dowden as the UK’s new Culture Secretary.