Tory minister who blocked only black candidate for Channel 4 board accuses critics of ‘tokenism’

Matt Hancock blocked the only non-white candidate for Channel 4's board

Matthew Hancock accused his critics of 'tokenism' (House of Commons)

A Government minister has been branded “disgraceful” after he defended his blocking of the only black candidate for a senior job with a rejection of “tokenism”.

Matthew Hancock blocked the appointment of former Arts Council executive Althea Efunshile to Channel 4’s board, despite her recommendation for the job by Ofcom, the sector’s regulator.

The channel’s current board of directors is all-white and has only three women on it.

At Culture Questions in the House of Commons today Mr Hancock said criticism of his intervention was “an argument that we should have tokenism” in public appointments.

His comments were seized on by Labour, who described them as “very concerning” – and called for the Government to make its appointment process more transparent.

SNP MP John Nicholson asked the minister during the question period: “The minister talks of merit – Channel 4 has 13 board members, ten of them are men, all of them are white.

“Could the minister explain to the House why he blocked the sole black candidate, a candidate described as outstanding by Ofcom?”

In response to the question, Mr Hancock said: “In this case there were four vacancies and we chose the four best candidates.

“I will have no truck with an argument that we should have tokenism. I support appointment on merit and I support making sure that we reach into all communities.”

His comments jar with those of the Culture Secretary Karney Bradley, who when questioned about the board told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that she wanted to “see a diverse range of candidates appointed to public appointments”.

Labour’s shadow Culture minister Kevin Brennan described Mr Hancock’s comments as “disgraceful” and an insult to Ms Efunshile, who had been picked by the regulator on merit.

“Matthew Hancock’s remarks this morning are very concerning,” he said in comments made after the parliamentary exchange.

“To say that the appointment of this highly qualified and recommended candidate would have been tokenism is disgraceful and his argument that ‘the four best candidates got the job’ just doesn’t cut it.

Ministers have flirted with Channel 4 privatisation (Getty Images)

“We’ve had no transparency over the criteria for the appointments and no clarity on whether the same process was followed for each candidate, with multiple reports saying they were not.

“The Minister’s complacent attitude and his dismissal of the very serious questions around the appointments to the Channel 4 board betrays his total failure to grasp the severity of this issue. Those questions still need answering.”

The row comes after reports that the Government tried to parachute a vocal advocate of Channel 4 privatisation onto the channel’s board, but was blocked by Ofcom.

Of the five candidates for the four vacant positions Ms Efunshile was the only non-white candidate.

Ministers have in the past flirted with privatising the commercially-funded, publicly owned channel, with conflicting media reports over whether the idea is still under consideration.