The brilliant Evening Standard Diary lead with a piece on the closure of the UK Film Council on Friday, and a somewhat inappropriate blog post written by the Culture Secretary.
I was aghast when I read Jeremy Hunt’s blog post in which he revealed he had to seek solace from the difficult submission of the spending review to the Treasury. He said: ‘Yesterday I sought consolation from the pain of having to submit my Treasury spending review bid on Friday by choosing the artwork for my office.’
As we all know Jeremy Hunt is responsible for cutting all funding to the UK Film Council. His decision will affect more than 75 jobs and seriously jeopardise the growth of the UK Film industry.
You can read his blog post here titled ‘Office Art’ form the 20 July. Judging by the comments people are as angry as I am at just how insensitive his post was.
The Evening Standard diary piece said:
First film now art: Hunt is in the firing line
AS the campaign against Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s plan to abolish the UK Film Council attracts 30,832 members on Facebook and opposition mounts from luminaries such as Clint Eastwood and Lord Attenborough, news reaches the Londoner of another withering attack on Hunt.
At around the time he made the decision to ditch the film council, Hunt claimed he needed cheering up. “Yesterday I sought consolation from the pain of having to submit my Treasury spending review bid on Friday by choosing the artwork for my office,” he blogged. “The Government Art
Collection is run by Penny Johnson, who is totally committed to the idea that government offices should showcase the very best of British talent. So with her help I have chosen a Mark Wallinger as the centrepiece … I’m also keeping a piece by Sonia Boyce that has survived a number of culture secretaries which is a sort of collage of 84 musical icons from Shirley Bassey to Estelle. There will be a couple of other stunning pieces which I will divulge when they arrive in the office later in the week.”
Hunt’s comments have not gone down well with the critics, including Labour MEP Mary Honeyball, who told me yesterday: “What is extraordinary about the Culture Secretary’s blog is his lack of empathy for all those whose jobs are on the line.
“This is not about him, or his need to console himself from this terrible decision, but about the British film industry and all those who work in the industry who have nowhere left to go.
“I am very angry at the tone and pitiful nature of this blog, which I also think is deeply unhelpful.”
