Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP

Ben Bradshaw was appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in June 2009. He was elected as MP for Exeter on 1 May 1997.

Prior to that Ben was Minister of State for Health Services and with additional responsibility as Minister for the South West at the Department of Health  (July 2007 to June 2009); Minister for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare at Defra, joining that Department initially as Nature Conservation and Fisheries Minister in June 2003;  Parliamentary Secretary the Privy Council Office where he was appointed in May 2002. Previously he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Before his election as MP for Exeter Ben worked as a journalist, training on the Express & Echo in Exeter before working for BBC Radio Devon and going on to be the BBC's Berlin correspondent.

Video - Keynote presentation: A 21st century settlement for arts and culture

View transcript of Ben Bradshaw's speech (PDF, 78KB)