The Policy Briefing: Why we need a Minister for Fashion
A truly Front Row to Front Bench solution!
Ed Vaizey, is a very charming man. He is also the Baron of Didcot, member of the House of Lords, member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group we run, former interviewee by me on the Front Row to Front Bench podcast, describes his time as the longest-serving UK Culture and Creative Industries Minister from 2010 to 2016 under David Cameron’s leadership, as the “Minister for Fashion.” Indeed, he was widely well regarded and popular, and he clearly cares about the arts. But, like many I have met in politics, they have not worked in the areas they then create policies for, and are anyway boxed in by the narrow definitions of the department and a brief that sits within a series of acronyms.
Fashion design is within DCMS, retail and manufacturing are within DBT, sustainability is within DEFRA, and in the last decade some of these remits have shifted, as in the UK we used to have DIT, which focused purely on international trade and DEXEU which focused purely on Brexit, all of whom since I started Fashion Roundtable I regularly met/meet with, and continue to fall into the pattern of repeat and reload, having to reiterate, double up on meetings. My engagement with policy makers, civil servants and the political class continues to be siloed and I do not think it has to be.
Being Interviewed as I regularly am, about fashion and policy
So what would I do?