Crouch charms creature comforts of Commons Committee with confident calm

Fair Game’s Matt Riley reports back on Tracey Crouch’s performance in front of the DCMS Select Committee

PARLIAMENT Select Committee hearings can spill over into bear-baiting and grandstanding politicians spewing out soundbites like a Fox News attack dog. When Philip Green was dragged kicking and screaming in front of them, the interactions were toe-curling; the kind of dialogue deleted as too ripe for Eastenders.  

“Do you mind not looking at me like that all the time, it’s really disturbing … Sorry, do you just want to stare at me, it’s making me uncomfortable that’s all.” It even took on a surreal Christmas twist in 2016 with Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley achieving a first class degree in stating the obvious with his “I’m not Father Christmas, I’m not saying I’ll make the world wonderful.” 

Watching Tracey Crouch as she appeared before them this morning she looked prepared, at ease and quietly confident. The atmosphere around the committee horseshoe was collegial, supportive and, at times, jocular. MP Steve Brine started proceedings off with a juicy half volley when he revisited the Purslow golden egg analogy knowing that Crouch would have reflected, evaluated and analysed the comments from Villa’s CEO and be ready to respond. This gave Crouch the confidence to up the emotional ante by referring to the carousel of Sports Ministers who have warned that football is entering the last chance saloon without being able to effectively address the reasons why it has ended up there. This is where the two word prefix of ‘fan-led ’ has been especially astute by the member for Chatham and Aylesford. The Premier League underminers need to sidestep the key focus that ideas are mined from fans rather than politicians. 

Now clearly in her stride and flanked by peers with a similar passion for the game, Crouch then focussed on the golden share initiative after the question posed by Solihull MP Julian Knight. Rather than be dragged into legacy wounds that continue to blight some clubs, Crouch sensibly chose to focus on drawing a line under the mistakes of the past to concentrate on avoiding them happening again. John Nicholson then offered what looked like an open goal by bringing up the controversial Newcastle takeover, but Crouch sensibly drew back from the opportunity and highlighted that the owner’s portfolio was broad and not always as controversial as this project. Clive Efford continued the atmosphere of light banter by asking Crouch if she was or ever has been a member of the Communist Party and Crouch was to make one of her few missteps by suggesting to this committee from both sides of The House that; if they wanted to see communism in action, they would see evidence of it if Labour won the next election. 

Julian Knight returned with a key question, asking which areas of the report Crouch felt the Premier League would push back the hardest on. Not surprisingly, Crouch identified the independent regulator and transfer levy which she, intriguingly, would later dangle that if the Premier League wanted to, they could impose their own levy after Christmas of around three per cent that would help address this point. For her, the FA would prefer to keep any regulation ‘in house’ and seems the most intractable of the two recommendations. Turkeys tend not to vote for Christmas. 

In response to Julie Elliott’s question about women’s football, there was less certainty of timeline from Crouch. She identified how there was a broad consensus from those who fed into the report but hoped that the government would move quickly to initiate a separate review (which seems optimistic at best).  It was the same with Kevin Brennan’s question about agents. Crouch feels that is a FIFA piece of business that fills most fans with a vague sense of dread of it being shelved, hidden or bungled. 

This was a positive sixty minutes that showed what is possible when a principled, respected and passionate advocate of a fairer footballing landscape approaches a complex situation with an actively listening ear. She knows that mistakes will be made (she supported Matt ‘hands on’ Hancock for leadership of the Tory party after all) and some compromises will need to be made. But she clearly signaled the non-negotiable decisions whilst welcoming discussion by not taking up the regular invitations from MPs almost killing her with kindness to bait the Premier League big dogs forming packs and hatching plans to cut her report off at the knees.