Michelle Donelan worked in marketing for Marie Claire and subsequently took up similar roles for the History Channel and World Wrestling Entertainment before becoming an MP in 2015.

In an article for Press Gazette, the PPA called on the Secretary of State to ‘match the agility, innovation and ambition of specialist media publishers with world-leading policymaking’, observing that the DCMS brief is now ‘central to government policy’.

Policy issues that the Department must prioritise include putting the Digital Markets Unit on a statutory footing, rebalancing the relationship between tech giants and specialist media businesses. It will also be necessary to coordinate across Whitehall on issues such as skills, and creating a tax regime which supports publishers to innovate at pace.

The PPA’s article concluded: ‘DCMS has grown into a department with the power and responsibility to transform the UK economy, and have far-reaching impacts across the digital space. This gives Michelle Donelan a huge opportunity to bolster the sector where she began her professional life, supporting UK specialist media businesses to retain their unparalleled global status’.