Hodge slammed for London Games Festival snub

A leading UK executive has told GamesIndustry.biz that Margaret Hodge, UK Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport, is "not going to be any use" to the games business.

The comments come just days after Hodge addressed a number of high-profile publisher and development execs including the ELSPA board at the London Games Festival, to discuss how the government and the industry can move forward in key areas of global competition, regulation and media relations.

"With Margaret Hodge I felt she wasn't listening, she said her piece and left. She's not going to be any use to this industry," said a senior exec to GamesIndustry.biz.

"I felt her mind was closed and she didn't care. Maybe I'm wrong, I would love to be proven wrong. But the impression I got was a whole load of key gaming executives wasted an afternoon there.

"We had an interesting talk afterwards between ourselves but I felt Margaret Hodge snubbed us and it's a real shame," added the source.

But if Hodge was perceived as closed-minded and unwilling to listen, Minister of State for Trade Digby Jones — who met with the same industry leaders earlier in the day — was seen as the better hope for supporting the UK industry.

"Digby Jones was very interested, he made some very good points, it was productive and useful and we'll see where it goes. Jones was very frank but he was prepared to learn," said the exec.

The full address from Margaret Hodge to the ELSPA forum can be seen here.