Nadine Dorries to succeed Oliver Dowden as culture secretary

Nadine Dorries was promoted to the role of culture secretary in prime minister Boris Johnson's cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, meaning she now oversees the department with responsibility for racing and gambling.

Dorries, the conservative MP for mid-Bedfordshire since 2005, succeeds Oliver Dowden, who has been made minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office.

In the past, Dorries has voiced her enthusiasm for horseracing and was a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Racing and Bloodstock Industries Group.

Dorries has attended events such as Qipco Champions Day and Royal Ascot, and once tweeted that racehorses were the "best looked after animals in the world".

Her attitude towards the gambling industry, which is the subject of an ongoing government review, is less clear.

Ministers have said the 2005 Gambling Act is to be updated to make it "fit for the digital age", while the government launched its long-promised gambling review last December.

Issues such as affordability checks, sponsorship and advertising by gambling companies are expected to be dealt with by the review, with the government set to produce a white paper before the end of the year.

John Whittingdale is the minister at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport with direct responsibility for betting and racing, but at the time of writing it had not been confirmed whether he is to continue in that position.

Rishi Sunak, the MP for the constituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire, which includes Catterick racecourse and the Middleham training centre, will continue in the role of chancellor of the exchequer.

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