Lord Vaisey

Biography

Ed Vaizey (Lord Vaizey of Didcot) was appointed to the House of Lords in 2020. He served on the Communications and Media Select Committee between 2020 and 2023. Ed was the Member of Parliament for Wantage between 2005 and 2019.

He served as the UK Government Culture and Digital Minister from 2010-16, and is the longest-serving Minister in that role. He was appointed a privy councillor in 2016. Ed now presents his own show on Times Radio every Friday evening, and writes and broadcasts regularly on politics and culture. In the private sector, Ed is an adviser to a number of companies, technology funds and technology start-ups.

Ed currently serves as chairman of the UK-ASEAN Business Council, a trustee of Tate, and a governor of St Paul’s School, London. In his role as digital minister, Ed was responsible for the roll out of the successful rural broadband programme to more than 4 million homes, the introduction of 4G, and tax credits for film, television, animation and video games, which have helped make the creative industries the fastest growing part of the UK economy. Ed also helped persuade Lucas Films to make the new Star Wars in the UK, and received an on-screen credit in the first film of the series.

In addition, he played a key role in putting coding in the national curriculum for schools, and in attracting inward investment to the UK tech economy. In his role as culture minister, Ed published the first White Paper on Culture in the UK for 50 years, introduced a national music education programme, and established English Heritage as a stand alone charity.