John Whittingdale, English politician, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale, (born 16 October 1959) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Maldon (and its predecessors) since 1992. A member of the Conservative Party, Whittingdale served as the Minister of State for Media and Data at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2020 to 2021, having previously served at the DCMS as Culture Secretary in the Cabinet from 2015 to 2016.

Whittingdale has been an MP since the 1992 general election, for a series of constituencies centred on the town of Maldon, Essex. He was Vice-Chairman of the 1922 Committee. He was a member of the Executive of Conservative Way Forward (2005–10) and the Conservative Party Board (2006–10).

Whittingdale was appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by David Cameron on 11 May 2015. He was dismissed by Theresa May on 14 July 2016 during a Cabinet reshuffle. He was one of the six Cabinet ministers to come out in favour of Brexit during the 2016 EU referendum and has since been a supporter of the Eurosceptic campaign Leave Means Leave.