The Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has been criticised for tweeting that the Minack Theatre received money from the government's cultural recovery fund - when it didn't.

The Minack was quick to point out the error following the tweet which quoted a Tweet from the first lady Jill Biden praising a performance at the cliff top venue at Porthcurno as a “beautiful and powerful program for G7 spouses”.

In his tweet which has now been deleted Oliver Dowden said he was delighted that the first lady was able to visit the stunning Minack

“This unique venue was one of more than 650 theatres helped through Covid with support from the £2bn Culture Recovery Fund, ensuring that it can entertain visitors for years to come.”

In its response the Minack Tweeted “Sorry @OliverDowden, but this is not true. We did not benefit from any CRF [Culture Recovery Fund] money as we were not eligible to apply. It turned out having a good level of cash reserves meant we had to fend for urselves and utilise our own reserves."

 

 

The mistake was met with consternation by other Twitter users