On the evening of Tuesday, 9th January 2018 I was called to Number 10 Downing Street to see the Prime Minister.
I was delighted when the Prime Minister then asked me to be the new Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
I am thrilled and honoured to have been promoted and to be once again asked to be part of Her Majesty’s Government.
Since Theresa May became Prime Minister in July 2016, I have served in Government as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, a role which I have greatly enjoyed. In that role I was involved in ensuring the Government’s legislation on any subject was ready and in good order to progress through the various legislative stages in the Commons as well as acting as a representative for all the backbenchers in the House, from all political parties.
Arts, Heritage and Tourism are vitally important not only to our culture but also to our economy. For example, tourism alone, according to the Tourism Alliance, contributes £127.4 billion to the GDP of this country with the industry continuing to grow. Latest figures out this month indicate a continued rise in tourism which obviously helps our hospitality and restaurant businesses and much else besides.
I was appointed less than two weeks ago but I have already been very busy in my new role: I have represented the Government by visiting and talking to the 
representatives of
Tate Modern, where there is an impressive exhibition of Modigliani,
the Science Museum,
the British Library, where there is an immensely popular exhibition on the Harry Potter Magic theme;
the National Theatre, where the Director is working to increase diversity and where there is a superb production of Amadeus starring the brilliant Lucian Msamati;
and I have also travelled to Coventry to see the preparations for their winning bid as UK City of Culture 2021. Every four years, a city in the UK is named as the “City of Culture”, an award under the remit of the Minister for Arts, and I will be taking a keen interest in their preparations.
The role of Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism is also important for the grants given to institutions across the country and I look forward to working with these institutions to promote British culture.
I have of course continued to prioritise my work in Northampton North, as I have done since I was first elected in 2010. Within three days of my promotion I was back visiting locations in Northampton North and I visited Northampton School for Boys, who have a superb and award-winning dance programme, and I also visited Abington Library.