(Bloomberg) — The U.K. is poised to name a preferred candidate to run the influential media regulator Ofcom as soon as this week, according to a person familiar with the matter, a process that took nearly two years to complete.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries is likely to meet the final candidates in person before making the decision in consultation with Boris Johnson, the person said, asking not to be named because the discussions are private.
Candidates include former culture minister Ed Vaizey, Stephen Gilbert and Michael Grade, who all represent the ruling Conservative Party in the U.K.’s upper House of Lords, according to other people familiar with the matter.
Ofcom regulates Britain’s telecommunications networks, postal system and television. The government is about to hand it significantly more power to investigate and sanction the biggest web companies.
The search has taken on a symbolic meaning for Johnson’s government, which is determined to erode what is sees as a left-wing bias in public institutions such as the BBC and appointments to the boards of museums and galleries.
Despite its importance, Ofcom has lacked a permanent chair for more than a year. The process was restarted after Johnson’s preferred choice, former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, was found “unappointable” by an interview panel.
A second search was extended after Dacre withdrew and published an open letter complaining about bias in the U.K.’s civil service. Johnson had personally asked him if he wanted the job, Dacre wrote in the Spectator magazine.
The appointee will be paid 142,500 pounds ($188,000) per year for three days’ work a week.
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