Parliament and Politics: The Mellor Resignation: BBC and national lottery top agenda
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Your support makes all the difference.THE NEW Secretary of State for National Heritage will find a letter from Tam Dalyell on his desk on Monday morning calling for the contents of Pitchford Hall to be saved from auction, writes Colin Brown.
The veteran Labour campaigner promises to be a thorn in the side of the new Secretary of State, who will inherit the decision by David Mellor to reject the offer of the Elizabethan hall in Shropshire and its contents for pounds 1.8m.
But the key items in Peter Brooke's in-tray when he arrives at his desk will be the Green Paper on the future of the BBC, which David Mellor was preparing, and the Bill on a national lottery, which is now before the Cabinet.
The Green Paper reviews the options for the BBC, including the introduction of advertising for national and local BBC radio stations.
Mr Mellor made it clear in his resignation speech that he was against legislative controls on the press. But the Mellor affair will force Mr Brooke to review the prospects for a statutory code of practice when he receives the report from the Calcutt inquiry on press freedom.
In spite of the department's title, the heritage is a small part of the ministry's responsibilities. John Major created the department after the general election to fulfil a manifesto pledge to preserve more of the heritage.
It was based on the old ministry of the arts. But to emphasise his commitment to the arts and silence critics who accused the Thatcher government of philistinism, he gave it Cabinet status with wider responsibilities, including broadcasting, transferred from the Home Office.
The new ministry was given a powerful permanent secretary, Hayden Phillips, 49, who was deputy permanent secretary at the Treasury when Mr Major was Chancellor.
It was also given the task of introducing the national lottery and put in charge of sport. Other responsibilities included a review of the Arts Council, the conduit of public funds for the arts.
With Mr Mellor interested in classical music and Chelsea Football Club, the department could have been tailor-made for him.
Mr Brooke also inherits a likeable permanent under-secretary, Robert Key.
Inevitably, it became known as the 'ministry of fun'. Mr Brooke is quite capable of restoring that reputation.
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