THE Tory Culture Secretary has been left red-faced after she was unable to name her Scottish counterpart.
Michelle Donelan was challenged on whether she had met with the Scottish Government’s Culture Secretary during a meeting of the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
She admitted that she had not, and was further forced to admit that she did not know who held the post.
SNP MP John Nicolson asked: “Out of interest, can you name Scotland’s Culture Secretary?”
“Not off the top of my head”, Donelan responded, smiling.
Amid laughter from the Westminster MPs, one could be heard to say off camera: “I don’t think any of us can name Scotland’s.”
“No clue,” another could be heard to remark.
MPs laughed after Tory Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan was unable to name her Scottish counterpart. 'I don't think any of us can', one MP was heard to say off camera 👇 pic.twitter.com/649o5m4MyE
— The National (@ScotNational) December 6, 2022
Nicolson informed the MPs that it is Angus Robertson.
“He led the SNP group here for many years. He’s known by all of us and he is your opposite number in Edinburgh,” he said.
The SNP MP further pulled Donelan up on the fact that she – nor her predecessor Nadine Dorries – had met with Robertson even once, despite culture being devolved.
Donelan said a meeting with her Scottish counterpart was “something that I have been meaning to do and I hold my hands up here, we haven’t quite got round to it”.
She went on: “But I will make sure it is a priority because you have called me out on it. I will do it next week.”
The Tory Secretary added that her junior ministers “regularly” meet with the Scottish Government.
Donelan was made Culture Secretary – replacing Nadine Dorries – after Liz Truss took over as Prime Minister. She was kept in post after Truss’s rapid exit led to Rishi Sunak entering No 10.
Donelan previously served as Education Secretary under Boris Johnson for less than 48 hours, resigning in an effort to force him to resign as prime minister.
