An Interview with Lisa Nandy, MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Lisa Nandy was “in conversation with” Caroline Wheeler, Political editor of the Sunday Times. The ambitious title of the interview was “Safeguarding Trusted News, AI, Fake News and Journalistic Integrity in Modern Society.” As you might expect, it didn’t quite manage to cover all of that! It did let us see that Lisa is down-to-earth, politically astute and very well informed.
Asked about her background, Lisa explained that her father came to the UK from India in 1950. Although they loved and jointly parented her, her parents separated. As the mixed-race child of a lone-parent household in Wigan she was very aware of the stigma placed on her and her mum by society at that time. “No kid should be made to feel unwanted and part of the problem.” Her candour in sharing the challenges of her early life gave us an insight into why she is so passionate about improving people’s lives.
Caroline Wheeler’s questions roamed around several current “hot topics”. These included how to address concerns over immigration, whether Andy Burnam is right to criticise the Government, how the arts can improve our wellbeing and why we should celebrate Northern Soul as well as the Royal Symphony Orchestra.
When they moved on towards the declared subject of the interview, discussion centred on the BBC and how we consume news today. In summary:
- The BBC is crucial to public life and must be preserved at all costs as a source of impartial fact to offset the political polemic that appears elsewhere on other platforms.
- BBC independence from political interference by Government is vital and must be preserved so its funding cannot come from general taxation because that exposes it to political pressure. The 10-Year charter is up for renewal in 2027 and Lisa is looking at different funding models to ensure its survival and independence.
- We still mostly love and trust the BBC, it brings us together. It’s important that we can trust not just the output of the BBC but also the corporation as a whole.
- We must combat fake news and hate speech by educating young people to become discerning in their news consumption. Part of this will come with expansion of the school curriculum – which Labour is working on.
- On AI, Lisa was clear that our fantastic creative output in the UK will be protected from copyright theft.
There may be fake news in our lives but Lisa Nandy is good news and no fake!
Alan Conochie – October 2025