Speeches by Bryant.

“Well, that is new, but not to this. It is part of the wider Government since the general election last year.”

“One of my direct interventions into this whole process was to refer to the British art market as well, because I have been concerned following Brexit that there would be a danger that we would lose our position to France. Actually, the British art market does more business than all the other art markets in Europe combi…”

“If you think about the museums and galleries that we run on behalf of the UK—and they are arm’s length bodies—they absorb a large chunk of our funding. They had a good settlement this last year: it was roughly 5% above inflation and we have been privately congratulated by all of them.”

“On top of that, we managed to find £75 million this year for capital investment for museums and galleries that are run by local authorities around the country, which was an important part of the pitch that we made to Treasury for the first spending review. Now we have to think about what we do for the next three years …”

“He is even less involved, whereas at least I had responsibility for a while.”

“There has been an issue about whether they are getting paid swiftly enough, but we are already looking at that. That is just an administrative element, rather than a policy.”

“Well, that is new, but not to this. It is part of the wider Government since the general election last year.”

“You know what I am talking about. It is a shock to everyone.”

“Yes, I think it is. Every Government Minister who ever sits before a Select Committee would always love to have twice as much money to invest in everything, and there are areas where we still have a great deal of work to do. I think we have identified the key sectors, which I see as a spectrum in the creative industrie…”

“We have been giving £1 million for the last few years, and we have not made a firm commitment yet about what we will end up doing.”

“This is God’s own country and I am a mere servant.”

“Thank you. Can I go now?”

“I think we have to rely on you, Alastair.”

“I don’t know whether Alastair knows more about the specific discussions about broadcasting. The only thing that I will say is that I used to work in the BBC, about 5,000 years ago. Back then, the BBC was very much a hermetically sealed unit; it did not work with ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 or anybody else. Now that is co…”

“To grow the creative industries, because we know that they are an essential part of our economic future in this country. They have grown faster than most other sectors in the UK economy over the last few years, and we want to make sure that they do so in future. Where there are barriers that are set up by Government th…”

“Bearing in mind what you said last week, Dame Caroline, I think it is about time that we celebrated the creative industries. This is not just a brief encounter; for many people it is a matter of life and death, and in the end there is hunger for change. I hope that by the matter of persuasion, you will accept that we a…”

“If only!”

“There is a lot in the plan. There were two key things that I was conscious of before we got to the general election, which had never really landed with regard to the creative industries. One thing was about access to finance. This was brought home to me when I went on a visit to Leeds last year. Women who run career te…”

“I hate to say that I will write to you, but I will have to write to you, because when we are doing it is not in my head. I did not think we would be talking about it today.”

“He is against it being Government-run, and you are—”