Eighteen months on, he has taken charge<\/a> of the department for digital, culture, media and sport, placing him at the forefront of one of the few policy debates other than Brexit to make headlines in the U.K. \u2014 how and, indeed whether, to legislate a fast-moving tech industry, while ensuring the sector thrives after Britain leaves the European Union. This week he will be among a small delegation of U.K. Cabinet ministers rubbing shoulders with the world\u2019s elite in Davos.<\/p>\n His promotion was largely welcomed by the tech industry, which sees Hancock as a rare example of a politician who understands digital, and the 39-year-old wasted no time in raising digital issues at last week\u2019s Cabinet meeting, according to a government official familiar with the discussion.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is very easy and quite direct to work with,\u201d said Anthony Walker, deputy chief executive of TechUK, the industry body that represents more than 950 tech companies. \u201cHe is somebody who has quickly built up good and constructive relationships across the sector.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do think Matt is very genuine in his belief that this sector really will be the engine of the economy post Brexit\u201d \u2014 Tech industry insight<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Hancock inherits an in-tray full of other pressing issues \u2014 how to tackle press regulation and the gender pay gap at the BBC, for starters.<\/p>\n Looming over everything, as ever, will be Brexit, which presents Hancock with policy questions that may see the interests of the tech industry at odds with the views of his colleagues in Cabinet.<\/p>\n The toughest of these will be immigration<\/a>. As digital minister, Hancock was strongly lobbied by the industry, which is concerned about access to talent if immigration is restricted post Brexit \u2014 something the U.K. prime minister herself has a personal commitment to.<\/p>\n The \u201cbiggest issue [for Hancock] is the post-Brexit landscape,\u201d said another senior figure in a large technology company, who did not want to be named. \u201cFair to say industry was pretty skeptical that the extra 1,000 skilled technical visas announced in November was anywhere near enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Hancock was not available to comment for this article.<\/p>\n Theresa May thought Hancock had \u201cdone well as a minister,\u201d according to a U.K. government official, and was \u201cclearly passionate about the digital agenda,\u201d which her government has placed at the heart of its post-Brexit industrial strategy.<\/p>\n Many supporters point to his energy \u2014 he even trained to become a jockey in 2012 for a charity horse race at Newmarket in his constituency.<\/p>\n But while Hancock\u2019s evident enthusiasm for technology has paid dividends for his career, MPs on both sides note his naturally partisan instincts which, they suggest, could hamper his ability to get things done in parliament.<\/p>\n An opposition figure with knowledge of Hancock\u2019s work to get the Data Protection Bill through the House of Lords in recent months, describes Hancock as the \u201cpolitical equivalent of an in-betweener\u201d \u2014 stuck in sharp-elbowed partisan mode rather than rising above the fray to craft the political compromises needed to guide legislation through parliament.<\/p>\n \u201cHe behaves like a SpAd [special adviser], but there is a serious job to be done here, even more so now that he is secretary of state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hancock was Osborne\u2019s chief of staff for five years from 2005 before winning the comfortable Conservative seat of West Suffolk in 2010.<\/p>\n Some peers suspect he was behind aggressive briefings against their amendments in the early stages of the data bill, when discussions are usually more exploratory.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s Home Secretary Amber Rudd has been forthright in her criticism of tech companies | Daniel Leal-Olivas\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n His tweet<\/a> following a House of Lords amendment requiring the government to proceed with the second stage of a press regulation inquiry also raised eyebrows for its confrontational tone, according to the opposition figure.<\/p>\n \u201cHouse of Lords have just voted to restrict press freedoms. This vote will undermine high quality journalism, fail to resolve challenges the media face and is a hammer blow to local press,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe support a free press and will seek to overturn these amendments in the Commons.\u201d<\/p>\n Key to Hancock\u2019s success will be his ability to navigate the competing interests of other Cabinet members around the table.<\/p>\n One industry figure who did not want to be named thinks he has helped mediate with the Home Office, which has taken a more hard-line approach to the technology industry over security issues.<\/p>\n The figure also notes Hancock\u2019s deep political ambition means he \u201creads the tea leaves like everybody else\u201d and has noticed the narrative around technology has shifted in recent years as concern about the practices of media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Google has become more widespread.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think Matt is very genuine in his belief that this sector really will be the engine of the economy post Brexit,\u201d the industry insider said. \u201cHe is young and has a long political career ahead of him. Getting the economy back to growth matters for him in terms of his own ambitions. I think he has been quite thoughtful about what he needs to do to both achieve the growth but manage the political and policy challenges facing the sector.\u201d<\/p>\n Matthew Hancock, right, at the TechCrunch Disrupt London conference in December 2016 | John Phillips\/Getty Images for TechCrunch<\/p>\n While other ministers, like Home Secretary Amber Rudd, have been forthright in their criticisms of tech companies \u2014 notably for not acting on hate speech or for violating users\u2019 privacy \u2014 Hancock has been more cautious.<\/p>\n He has also been reluctant to get into debates on competition. Asked in the House of Commons about the German competition authority ruling<\/a> that the collection and use of data by Facebook was abusive, Hancock responded that the question was an \u201cinteresting one\u201d but competition rules were \u201crightly decided on independently in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n In his new role, Hancock will have to continue to take the Data Protection Bill through parliament, deal with the consultation on the government\u2019s new digital charter and will be directly involved in negotiations for the U.K. to achieve so-called \u201cadequacy\u201d \u2014 the status granted by the European Commission to countries outside the bloc that judges their levels of personal data protection as being essentially equivalent to the protection guaranteed by the EU, a ruling which some in the industry see as vital post Brexit, the industry figure said.<\/p>\n Walker said that at the cabinet table he would be \u201cdealing more head-on with the complex political challenges\u201d around Brexit and it would be good to have someone who understood the sector at the heart of the debate.<\/p>\n Original Article<\/a><\/p>\n [contf] [contfnew] LONDON \u2014 Matthew Hancock is Westminster\u2019s latest comeback ki..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Political animal<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nBalancing act<\/h3>\n
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