The National Maritime Museum, part of the Royal Museums Greenwich Photo: Katie Chan via Wikimedia Commons
Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) in London is the latest UK institution embroiled in a so-called “culture war” after the government allegedly blocked a trustee appointment, prompting the museums’ chair of trustees to resign.
According to the
Financial Times, Sir Charles Dunstone, the billionaire founder of Carphone Warehouse, stepped down from the RMG board earlier this year after Oliver Dowden, the UK culture secretary, refused to renew the term of Aminul Hoque, a Bangladeshi-British lecturer at Goldsmiths college, University of London. Hoque was reportedly rejected because of his focus on “decolonisation”.
The billionaire founder of Carphone Warehouse has quit as chairman of a prestigious museum group in protest at a ‘culture war’ being waged in British institutions.
Sir Charles Dunstone resigned from the board of Royal Museums Greenwich after Ministers refused to reappoint a trustee whose academic work encourages ‘decolonising’ the curriculum.
It comes as Boris Johnson’s administration seeks to reset the balance of opinion at the top of Britain’s cultural and media institutions, often through greater involvement in board appointments.
Sir Charles Dunstone resigned from the board of Royal Museums Greenwich after Ministers refused to reappoint a trustee whose academic work encourages ‘decolonising’ the curriculum
First published on Sat 1 May 2021 09.04 EDT
The chair of an influential museum group has resigned after an academic whose work calls for âdecolonisingâ the curriculum was dropped from the board, amid reports of a government-sanctioned culture war. Sir Charles Dunstone, the founder of Carphone Warehouse, reportedly resigned from the Royal Museums Greenwich board after the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, refused to reappoint trustee Dr Aminul Hoque, an education academic at Goldsmiths, University of London.
The development is the latest in a series of vetoes by ministers seen as an attempt to assert authority over appointments to media and cultural institutions. The government refused to reappoint two women to Channel 4âs board of directors, including one of only two women of colour, last month.