Labour conference: "We won't let the Bullingdon Boys bully the BBC"

“Release The Dugher” was the phrase circulating on social media as the Labour Party’s new Shadow Culture Secretary took the stage at Labour Party Conference. Described by party insiders as a “fierce northern attack dog”, Michael Dugher didn’t disappoint, launching a stinging attack on the government’s plans to reform the BBC.

Despite serving as Andy Burnham’s campaign chief during the leadership election, Dugher appears to have settled into life under the new Labour regime. He joked that attending the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup was “precisely the kind of sacrifice” he was prepared to make for socialism.

But, his determination to get his teeth into his new brief was clear during his short but pugnacious speech, in which he described the government’s plans to cut down the BBC and to look at privatising Channel 4 as “cultural vandalism” and “an assault on the very principle of public service broadcasting.” “We won’t let the Bullingdon Boys bully the BBC,” was his message.

While the launch of his campaign to protect the BBC was the key focus, he also expanded on his plans to address regional disparities in arts funding reported in the Sunday Times over the weekend. Dugher, who is the MP for Barnsley East, where the film Brassed Off was set, told the newspaper that the Arts Council bosses were guilty of “casual snobbishness,”—placing too much emphasis on “high arts” such as opera and ballet, while neglecting less metropolitan art forms such as brass bands.

Today, he announced a review into investment in arts and culture—a key pledge of the Corbyn leadership campaign. Dugher might not have been the obvious choice for Shadow Culture Secretary, but his attacking spirit is clearly fully deployed in the direction of John Whittingdale’s department.