This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/14/labour-shadow-cabinet-angela-eagle-extra-title-women-row
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Angela Eagle's extra title due to Labour 'women row' | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The new shadow business secretary, Angela Eagle, was given the honorary title of first secretary of state after one of Jeremy Corbyn’s staff had said they were “taking a fair amount of shit” about the lack of women in top jobs in his team. | |
| Eagle was initially appointed as shadow business secretary in an email sent to the media by Labour headquarters at 22.35 on Sunday. A second email announcing her extra title as first shadow secretary of state – a title once held in government by Peter Mandelson – was sent at 00.19. | |
| A conversation overhead by both Sky News and BBC News reporters also confirmed that this extra title was an afterthought after it emerged that Corbyn was being criticised for handing the top three positions to men, with John McDonnell as chancellor, Andy Burnham as home secretary and Hilary Benn foreign secretary. | |
| According to a Sky News reporter, whose account was confirmed by BBC journalists present, reporters overheard a male voice in the meeting between Corbyn and the chief whip, Rosie Winterton, who said: “We are taking a fair amount of shit out there about women. We need to do a Mandelson. Let’s make Angela shadow first minister of state. Like Mandelson was. She can cover PMQs. Tom [Watson] knows about this. Do the Angela bit now.” | |
| With Watson elected deputy leader, the five most senior people - including Corbyn as leader - in the party are male. | |
| However, with the appointments of shadow cabinet ministers confirmed during the course of Monday, Corbyn’s team was stressing that more than half the shadow cabinet was female – in addition to Eagle’s dual role . | |
| Related: Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet in full | Related: Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet in full |
| A Labour source also told he Guardian that the additional title was added after concerns about the gender balance of Corbyn’s top team. | |
| There are now 31 people in Corbyn’s first shadow cabinet, 16 of whom are women. They include Heidi Alexander, an MP for Lewisham in London, who is shadow health secretary and Lucy Powell, who was Ed Miliband’s chief of staff, who becomes shadow education secretary. Seema Malhotra, 42, MP for Feltham and Heston since 2011, was named as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury. | |
| Corbyn defended the appointments, telling reporters: “You’re living in the 18th century. That’s when the great offices of state were decided. We have a shadow cabinet of a majority of women covering all areas of policy and public life and I think it’s a great team. And it reaches out to the entire party and I think that is a bit of an achievement, if I may say so.” | |
| However, some of them are in more junior roles and have been invited to attend top table for the first time. They include Luciana Berger as shadow minister for mental health, working under the shadow health secretary, and Gloria De Piero as shadow minister for young people and voter registration. | |
| Senior Labour women have expressed their frustration that none of the top jobs are going to female colleagues. Janet Royall, the leader of the House of Lords under Ed Miliband, said she was “concerned and dismayed at the lack of women at the top of my party”. | |
| “I applaud … [that] there will be equal numbers of men and women in the shadow cabinet. And maybe Jeremy does believe the shadow international development portfolio is as improtant as the Treasury. But the thing is the outside world does not think that. Maybe we can change the culture of our party, parliament and the country, but they are not [thinking that] at the moment,” Lady Royall said. | |
| “The fact [is] that we’ve got Jeremy, Tom, Sadiq [Khan] in London, Marvin Rees in Bristol, and now all these other top jobs in the shadow cabinet have gone to men. Like many other people I have always done whatever I could to make sure there were visible women at the top of the party and now they are not there. Visually, it is bad.” | “The fact [is] that we’ve got Jeremy, Tom, Sadiq [Khan] in London, Marvin Rees in Bristol, and now all these other top jobs in the shadow cabinet have gone to men. Like many other people I have always done whatever I could to make sure there were visible women at the top of the party and now they are not there. Visually, it is bad.” |
| Royall also said it could be time to look at changing the rules to make sure there is gender balance at the top of the party, although she would have hoped any leader would have done this voluntarily. | Royall also said it could be time to look at changing the rules to make sure there is gender balance at the top of the party, although she would have hoped any leader would have done this voluntarily. |
| She added: “It’s a retrograde step not to have women at the top of the party, although there are some fantastic women who have got jobs, like Angela Smith in the House of Lords. It is great that Angela Eagle is there to deputise for him, but that is still deputising. Great and all that, but not good enough.” | She added: “It’s a retrograde step not to have women at the top of the party, although there are some fantastic women who have got jobs, like Angela Smith in the House of Lords. It is great that Angela Eagle is there to deputise for him, but that is still deputising. Great and all that, but not good enough.” |
| Another female MP, who turned down the chance to be a shadow minister, said: “It’s self-evidently bad. People feel really connected with our achievements on making sure we have a balanced team, and for him to inexplicably overturn that in one reshuffle.” | Another female MP, who turned down the chance to be a shadow minister, said: “It’s self-evidently bad. People feel really connected with our achievements on making sure we have a balanced team, and for him to inexplicably overturn that in one reshuffle.” |
| She suggested there would be a lot of anger at the party’s women’s conference later this month and that the women’s parliamentary party could mobilise to force changes in the rules to ensure equality at the top. | She suggested there would be a lot of anger at the party’s women’s conference later this month and that the women’s parliamentary party could mobilise to force changes in the rules to ensure equality at the top. |
| “There is only really one way to resolve it, which is to change the rules. But some of these people have got to have a long hard look at themselves and why their own sense of equality is not damaged or besmirched by the outcome of this.” | “There is only really one way to resolve it, which is to change the rules. But some of these people have got to have a long hard look at themselves and why their own sense of equality is not damaged or besmirched by the outcome of this.” |
| Diana Johnson, former shadow Home Office minister, was one of the first to comment, saying it was “so very disappointing – old-fashioned male-dominated Labour politics in the top positions in shadow cabinet”. | Diana Johnson, former shadow Home Office minister, was one of the first to comment, saying it was “so very disappointing – old-fashioned male-dominated Labour politics in the top positions in shadow cabinet”. |
| Melanie Onn, MP for Grimsby, said later that people should give Corbyn a chance but added he had so far been “rubbish on gender in top jobs”, while Jess Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley, said in a tweet that she felt sad about the situation. | Melanie Onn, MP for Grimsby, said later that people should give Corbyn a chance but added he had so far been “rubbish on gender in top jobs”, while Jess Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley, said in a tweet that she felt sad about the situation. |
| She added that the shadow chancellor “should have been a woman … end of” and that “if this was Cameron, we would be apoplectic”. | She added that the shadow chancellor “should have been a woman … end of” and that “if this was Cameron, we would be apoplectic”. |
| After the full list was revealed, the Labour Women’s Network said it was glad the shadow cabinet was more than 50% women, but there were too few in top jobs. Its representatives are now hoping to meet Corbyn to discuss this further. | |
| The gender make-up of the cabinet was strongly defended by Kate Green, the new shadow women and equalities minister, who echoed Corbyn’s argument that it was “old-fashioned” to view the four great offices of state as leader, chancellor, foreign affairs, and home affairs. | |
| “I’m always pleased to see more women in senior roles,” she said. “Obviously part of the make-up of the top team reflects the fact that our leader and deputy were elected by Labour party members and supporters. While I was keen we should have a mixed leadership, obviously the electorate delivered what they did. I think it’s great that Jeremy has gone on the deliver a shadow cabinet with more women than men in it overall. I’m really pleased to be part of it. | |
| “My view is that to be honest it’s a bit old-fashioned to talk about great offices of state. If you are a party committed to social justice and equality, which is very much what Labour and Jeremy are about, then there are lot of big jobs that really matter like Heidi [Alexander] at health, Lucy [Powell] in education and Lisa [Nandy] in energy. I don’t think we should assume the traditional big jobs of the past are all of our priorities for the future.” |