On the day that the National Theatre revived Shakespeare’s tragedy about a leader who suffers after refusing to tell the people what they want to hear, culture secretary Lisa Nandy proved that she is no Coriolanus.
On the surface, at least, her speech to the Labour conference on Tuesday told arts lovers on the left exactly what they would have hoped for. There have been 14 years of Conservative “violent indifference” to the arts, allied to education policy and local government de-funding that has “erased culture and creativity from our classrooms and communities”. However, now, the cultural community will become “essential partners in the country we seek to build”.
