Nigel Adams MP appointed new Minister for Digital

Adams takes over from Margot James MP who resigned last week

Nigel Adams, the MP for Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire, has been appointed Minister for Digital in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's new cabinet. Adams replaces Margot James, who announced her resignation from government on 18 July rather than serve in a Johnson-led administration.

Adams will work under the new Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nicky Morgan. Previously Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, she replaces Jeremy Wright who was sacked by Johnson in his reshuffle following his appointment as Prime Minister on Wednesday.

Adams could be described as a tech entrepreneur. He co-founded Advanced Digital Telecom in 1993, which was later sold for £3.1 million to JWE Telecom. He subsequently acquired NGC Networks in 2006, a business in which he continues to be a shareholder.

As an MP, Adams supported the Superfast North Yorkshire project, which aims to extend the coverage of superfast broadband (24Mbps) to 94 per cent of the county.

However, that project appears to have been superceded by Johnson's optimistic pledge to deliver 100 per cent fibre broadband for all by 2025. As Minister for Digital, that will fall under Adams' remit to achieve. Johnson reiterated his full-fibre leadership campaign pledge in his statement to the House of Commons on Thursday.

Before being appointed a minister in the DCMS, Adams had been Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Wales Office and Assistant Government Whip from November 2018 to April 2019. Before that, he had been a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Minister of Housing, Communities and Local Government.