Cardiff West MP Kevin Brennan has been a keen member of the DCMS committee, especially with regard to lobbying for more government intervention with regard to music streaming. Brennan was praised by the Musicians’ Union for “excellent interventions” and being “extremely strong on the MU’s three main asks”. What the Committee wasn’t told is that the union praising him for delivering their lines had paid him £4,000 in 2019…
The only payments Brennan declared at the start of the Committee hearing were “occasional payments for working as a musician, which are declared in the Register of Members’ Interests”. Brennan, who has declared he is a member of the Musicians’ Union, has failed to declare his substantial and recent donation in any hearings so far, despite pushing the union’s line as part of a co-ordinated campaign. The Musicians’ Union even acknowledged having briefed Brennan for the debate.
While Brennan has declared the donation in his register of interests, MPs are required to also declare relevant interests at hearings where it’s on a related topic. Brennan, who has been an MP for twenty years, will have known the rules. Not least because fellow Labour MP Stephen Doughty, who was also praised by the Union, followed the rules and declared his Musicians’ Union donations…
Appearing before the DCMS select committee was never going to be an easy ride for Tony Hall, especially after its newly-elected Chair, Julian Knight, has publically called for licence fee reform. Lord Hall was repeatedly challenged on diversity of thought at the Beeb. Unsurprisingly, Hall seems happy with the status quo…
The DCMS committee does not yet have its full membership confirmed yet, and already change is afoot. Senior sources close to the Committee tell Guido that new Chairman Julian Knight laid down the law to Committee staff upon being elected to the position, saying the scrutinising body is not going to run like it did before. Looks like a clear rebuke to the Collins – Cadwalladr relationship…
Knight declared that no journalist will get special treatment or favours from the Committee. This follows complaints being submitted under the previous chairman Damian Collins, whose close relationship with Carole Cadwalladr saw her attend the committee sitting apart from other journalists, and seemingly coordinate bizarre stories. Now, finally, the UK’s 19th biggest newspaper will be treated like all the others…
After years of conspiracy-baiting and Cadwalladr whispering, the media-hungry DCMS select committee and its chairman is facing a big change. Last month friend of the site Damian Collins narrowly lost his chairmanship of the Committee by just seven votes. We can thank abstaining Corbynite MPs for that…
The new Chairman, Solihull MP Julian Knight, is a vast improvement. Knight, who worked for the Beeb for five years before becoming money and property editor for The Independent on Sunday, wrote last month that the corporation needs a “no holds barred review”, with the “main option” being to move to a “subscription service or allow people to opt-out from the BBC.” Knight’s campaign literature instead focussed on getting the BBC “sorted”, as well as broadband and progress in sport…
The Committee looks set to drop its spurious one-sided reports into the Brexit campaign under the guise of ‘fake news‘. Collins used his position to let Remain campaigners ‘analyse‘ pro-Brexit outlets, trying to haul Dom Cummings in for an ‘evidence session‘, and only choosing to investigate the ‘Leave‘ side of the referendum. Guido looks forward to Knight’s committee instead flexing its muscles for good – looking into the UK’s restrictively regulated broadcasting rules, and the TV tax…
