The DCMS today (20/5) performed an extraordinary U-turn by announcing that Ed Vaizey will not serve as architecture minister.
In a surprise appointment, even to Vaizey himself, who gave an interview to BD at the RIBA on Tuesday night outlining his plans in the job, the department have handed the role to fellow Tory MP John Penrose, who will serve as minister for tourism and heritage with responsibility for architecture and the built environment.
Vaizey meanwhile, who served as shadow architecture minister since 2006 up until the election, will be responsible for areas of the DCMS including the arts, museums and the media.
The about-turn was performed because of a looming conflict of interest involving Penrose. Prime minister David Cameron had originally intended that he straddle the DCMS and the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills with a responsibility for media and the digital economy.
However, it was realised that this role was untenable because Penrose is married to Dido Harding, the managing director of telecom giant Talk Talk.
A spokesman for DCMS said: “It has had to be re-jigged. That happened at lunchtime today. What you were told previously [about Vaizey] shouldn’t have happened.
What [Vaizey] was saying on Tuesday night was what he genuinely believed to be the case.”
Penrose, MP for Weston-super-Mare since 2005, is a former publisher who served as parliamentary private secretary to shadow cabinet member Oliver Letwin.
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