Ed off

It would be informative to find out what Team Theresa think Ed Vaizey has done wrong. He's beavered away for the Tories on the arts, culture and digital brief for ten years, and now returns to the backbenches having been the longest serving Minister at the DCMS.

Ed (48, St Paul's and Merton College, Oxford) has added generally to the gaiety of life in arts and media circles, pushed the BBC hard on diversity, and supported the full range of creative industries with upbeat speeches and gags right across the UK. On Twitter he (and, I suspect, his Special Adviser Jonathan Badyal) plays the game very elegantly - wryly re-tweeting nearly as many abusive messages as Piers Morgan.

The MP for Wantage was recently made a Privy Counsellor, and, having campaigned for Remain, may have suspected before others his time was up. I'd love to read a frank Vaizey take on life at the DCMS under Jeremy Hunt, Maria Miller, Sajid Javid and John Whittingdale - but expect the very decent Ed will wait some time before spilling the beans.