Theresa May was embroiled in a sexism row last night after ex-Cabinet Minister Nicky Morgan said she had ‘promoted more people called Jeremy than women’ in her latest reshuffle.
Former Education Secretary Mrs Morgan spoke out after Mrs May promoted eight men – and no women – in the emergency ministerial shake up prompted by the resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis over her new Brexit policy.
It saw Jeremy Hunt become Foreign Secretary and Jeremy Wright move to Culture Secretary – with mandarin Sir Jeremy Heywood’s position as Cabinet Secretary unaltered.
The changes mean that after the Prime Minister, the top 14 places in the Cabinet pecking order are occupied by men.
Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, pictured, spoke out after Mrs May promoted eight men – and no women – in the emergency ministerial shake up prompted by the resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis over her new Brexit policy
And last week’s photograph of Mrs May’s 28-strong new ‘Cabinet’, which gave the impression that women form a substantial part of her top table, is an illusion.
Only 22 are ‘full’ Cabinet members with voting rights – and a mere four of those (aside from Mrs May herself) – are women.
Six others ‘attend’ Cabinet. They have no vote and can speak only when invited to. Revealingly, four of these are women. Mrs Morgan said: ‘It is disappointing that more men called Jeremy were promoted than women. In the year we are celebrating the centenary of women gaining the vote we should do better. The Conservative backbenches are crammed with talented women.’
The Commons Treasury Select Committee, chaired by Mrs Morgan, recently published a report, Women In Finance, which investigated why few top City jobs are occupied by women.
The extent of the male bias in the Cabinet was disclosed days after it emerged that the BBC’s 12 highest earners are men.
By tradition, Whitehall publishes an official Cabinet pecking order which combines the seniority of the post with the length of a Minister’s service.
Curiously, when The Mail on Sunday initially asked last week for the latest list, a Cabinet Office spokesman said it was ‘no longer available’.
Finally, on Friday, the department did produce the official rankings – showing that the top 14 places after the Prime Minister are filled by men.
last week’s photograph of Mrs May’s 28-strong new ‘Cabinet’, which gave the impression that women form a substantial part of her top table, is an illusion. Only 22 are ‘full’ Cabinet members with voting rights – and a mere four of those (aside from Mrs May herself) – are women
The top female place goes to Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey at number 15.
It is bound to lead to claims that the official list was axed because it reveals the truth: contrary to the impression of the Cabinet photograph, all the power brokers around Mrs May are men.
The changes she made were: Jeremy Hunt to the Foreign Office, Matt Hancock to Health, Jeremy Wright to Culture and Dominic Raab to the Brexit Department. To add insult to injury, Mr Raab is now the fifth most powerful man in the Cabinet despite once being rebuked by Mrs May for saying feminists were ‘obnoxious bigots’.
New Attorney General Geoffrey Cox joins the ‘attendees’. Kit Malthouse becomes Housing Minister, Chris Heaton-Harris is Brexit Minister and Justin Tomlinson becomes Families Minister.
According to the official pecking order, Ms McVey, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley and Lords Leader Baroness Evans are all placed between 15 and 20 in the Cabinet.
Four other women – Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom, Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss, Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes and Business Minister Claire Perry – are among the Cabinet ‘attendees’.
The list has become notably more male dominated since Amber Rudd was forced to quit as Home Secretary over the ‘Windrush’ immigration fiasco. She was fourth on the list.