Countdown begins to U-turn on Channel 4 privatisation

Opposition is growing to Nadine Dorries’ plans, writes Sean O’Grady

Every media appearance by Nadine Dorries, the minister in charge of the media, has been a car crash (EPA)

The government did well to get a series of controversial bills on the statute book before parliament rose for recess.

The Elections Bill, the Nationality and Borders Bill and the Police Bill faced determined resistance, in the Lords especially. Amendments passed in the Lords were sent to the Commons and back again time and again. The game ended when the opposition gave up the fight, knowing that the government would be entitled to force the legislation through in the next session of parliament. The House of Lords, and Tory dissenters, must choose which hills to die on.

That parliamentary Iwo Jima could turn out to be the privatisation of Channel 4. On purely practical grounds it doesn’t seem to be a compelling priority. It would only raise £1bn; it would destroy jobs and regional media production companies in places such as Leeds and Northern Ireland – hardly levelling up – and the channel already coexists and collaborates with the streaming giants. Neither does it cost any public money, contrary to what culture secretary Nadine Dorries once stated. It appears very much a privatisation for the sake of it.

Political opposition is powerful and growing. Crucially, there was no mention of the proposal in the 2019 Conservative election manifesto, which means it doesn’t carry even the nominal endorsement of the electorate. Under long-established custom, opponents of the proposal will be emboldened to block the move in a manner they couldn’t with other bills.

As polling — and the Department of Culture’s own consultation — shows, the public isn’t crying out for Channel 4 to be privatised, and with the war in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis, Brexit and Partygate still concentrating official minds, reorganising a TV channel doesn’t look a very sensible priority. Before the recess, a wide range of Conservatives raised pragmatic arguments against it, and they may well reflect a substantial body of dissent. Peter Bottomley, the father of the house, told the House of Commons that “Channel 4 is in the best state it’s been creatively and financially for years”. Julian King and Damian Green have expressed scepticism about the plans. The controversy has also spilled out into the real world, with Kirstie Allsopp spearheading the forces of reason.

Things might be better if the project had a more convincing advocate, but almost every media appearance by the minister in charge of the media has been a car crash. She claimed during her latest appearance, on LBC with Iain Dale, that Channel 5 had been privatised, whereas it has been privately owned during its entire existence. Dorries has also suggested that the prime minister “always tells the truth” and stated she would only withdraw her support from him if he “kicked a dog”. She rarely commands confidence, even allowing for her dyslexia. Because of her extreme partisanship and cultish loyalty to Boris Johnson, the privatisation looks like an act of spite against a perceived enemy. (Channel 4 News did, after all, use a melting block of ice as a stand-in when Mr Johnson was the only party leader to decline to show up for a climate debate.)

Labour might easily scupper the privatisation by pledging to take the channel back into public ownership at the price it was sold at, by threatening to withdraw its broadcasting licence, or by imposing tougher public service and regional obligations in programming and commissioning. The prize of Channel 4 might be devalued in such circumstances. The self-styled people’s government is likely to sell the channel to a big media outfit, very possibly foreign-owned, where it is destined to be asset-stripped and left to die. Politically that would be a hard sell for even the most gifted operator. Luckily for Channel 4, Nadine Dorries isn’t that person. The countdown to a U-turn has begun.