Caroline Lucas calls for an all-women cabinet

[Gone2far]

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I think she's lost the plot and that an all-women cabinet would have no special powers. Why are women supposed to be innately better at governing than men?

[AlwaysTawnyOwl]

No problem. If any male MP pops on a dress and lippy and ‘identifies’ themselves as female, Caroline will take them.

[Amalfimamma]

Caroline Lucas also defended the challenors and believes twaw so it'll be an all male cabinet that she's after

[BuzzShitbagBobbly]

She wouldn't know what an all-women cabinet looked like - she's way too drunk on the kool-aid.

Although I suspect her hangover would set in quickly once she realised that she'd enabled a bunch more men to achieve it.

[BrainFart]

I was so disappointed to read that. Voted Green my entire life (except 2017 when I voted Labour as didn't want any split vote letting Tories in), and always thought she was a brilliant MP. Now I feel resigned to the idea that my (male) vote wasn't really worth that much to them, and that she is trying to back-door herself into power.

[MockerstheFeManist]

As ever with the Greenies, so much better at describing the destination than the journey.

How do we get this 'cabinet' approved by Parliament?

The "If Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters..." argument does not stand up to a moment's scrutiny.

[borntobequiet]

Identify a terrible, horrendous political situation. Propose a completely batshit stupid remedy. Well done Caroline Lucas.

[ArnoldWhatshisknickers]

I grew up with a woman Prime Minister and a woman monarch. I can't say as I noticed women holding positions of power doing much to improve the lives of ordinary women. Indeed any improvements appear to have been driven from the bottom up by grass roots movements rather than the top down.

Even if Ms Lucas actually means women as opposed to 'anyone who feels a bit girly today' I doubt that an all woman cabinet would be a game changer.

[FamilyOfAliens]

Now I feel resigned to the idea that my (male) vote wasn't really worth that much to them, and that she is trying to back-door herself into power.

On the plus side, BrainFart, now you truly know what it feels like to be disenfranchised as a woman.

[BrainFart]

@FamilyOfAliens

Yep, and it sucks. It's almost like people should have been advocating against it for years and treating everybody equally regardless of their sex / gender / race / religion. But apparently it's actually OK when you have a chance of bouncing your 1-MP having party into the cabinet...

[FormerMediocreMale]

Hahaha if only she knew what a woman was!

[Abraid2]

Why not broaden the scope and include Anne Widdecombe?

[dolorsit]

I don't think a national unity government/cabinet comprised of women would be automatically better than a mixed sex cabinet.

However, having seen the list of female politicians that Lucas wrote to they are all women who I feel are quite capable of putting aside party allegiance for the good of the country.

Bear in mind that we currently have labour refusing to consider cross party alliances, it seems to me that Lucas is simply using an "all woman" fantasy cabinet as a tool to create cross party cooperation. Going for a temporary all woman alliance cuts across party political line and puts the idea of a national unity government in the headlines.

Although it is very unlikely to happen I do think that politically it's a valid tactic for Lucas to use.

[ZuttZeVootEeeVro]

I think she is going about this the wrong way.

It would have been better to set up this cabinet with the best, most collaborative people she can find.

And then used the fact that it is entirely made up of women as proof that women are more collaborative.

[BrainFart]

How does it create cross-party cooperation if it specifically excludes the male MPs from those parties ?

Let's say I'm a male MP in the Shadow Cabinet. Why on Earth would I be inclined to lend my political support to an enterprise I would be specifically excluded from because of my sex.

Even better, let's say I'm an anti-Brexit Tory male MP (Dominic Grieve, for example). Why would I go against my party to support a cabinet I would be disallowed from on the basis of my sex, despite being pretty much the leading voice on the Tory side against Brexit / a No-Deal Brexit ?

To put the idea of an NUG in the headlines, all it requires is a few of the leading lights to suggest it - take your pick. Instead it is not the NUG which is being discussed, but why the parliamentary leader of the Green party has suddenly suggested an overtly-sexist agenda, with a side bit of (I would hope) unintentional racism by not including literally the senior female Labour MP (Diane Abbott) in the discussion ?

[Anotherusefulname]

Surely the feminist position on this should be the best people for the job are in the cabinet.

In theory the people with best skills and experience for the role are those that have it.

I know it doesn't always work like that in practice, all that would change is inappropriate people who went to the right school would be replaced by inappropriate people who happen to be women. This is actually a backward step for feminism (my feminism at least in my view men and women are equal. It appears that some feminist veiws are that women are 'more equal' than men and I don't like that)

The cabinet should be chosen on ability and understanding from a pool of MPs chosen by the electorate, regardless of which sex they are or wgere the went to school.

[DarlingNikita]

I'm very disappointed too. I'm not a big Green voter but have always respected her a lot. I think this divisive, a major misstep and comes across as not much more than a stunt. It also plays into the hands of the kind of frothers who call women man-haters if they raise any objections to male privilege/violence.

Most of the women she wrote to, granted, are admirable and principled, but personally in a government of national unity I'd also like to see figures like Dominic Grieve and Michael Heseltine.

Anna Soubry has taken a thoughtful stance in her response.

[dolorsit]

Anne Widdecombe is not a MP. She is also in favour of leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Neither is Nicolas Sturgeon but she is the head of a devolved administration and as such should have been included right from the start of this process.

[ArnoldWhatshisknickers]

Most of the women she wrote to, granted, are admirable and principled, but personally in a government of national unity I'd also like to see figures like Dominic Grieve and Michael Heseltine.

Indeed. Brexit is much too important an issue to be playing identity politics with. She has already fallen foul of the 'but what about' with regard to Dianne Abbott, who I do not think would be a suitable MP to involve. Lucas asked for such a response, however, with her silly starting point.

[ArnoldWhatshisknickers]

Neither is Nicolas Sturgeon but she is the head of a devolved administration and as such should have been included right from the start of this process.

So is Mark Drakeford.

[AngelasAshes]

It is really sad to see such sexist stuff spouted by MPs, blushed and applauded instead of condemned.
Women are not superior to men.

[Ineedacupofteadesperately]

Yes it's a stupid stunt, but so - it could be argued - is Brexit. It's idiotic (not least because she thinks 'woman' includes any man who says so, self ID in action) but I'm not noticing anyone doing anything more useful. It's a shame this ridiculous notion will get column inches and distract everyone into talking about it rather than focusing on the issue at hand.

The EU said they were concerned that if they gave us an extension to October nothing would happen until right before the deadline (like when you give a small child an extra half an hour to get ready to leave and they just mess about) and they were right. So very ashamed of our politicians.

[RoyalCorgi]

Why is Caroline Lucas doing this? Obviously it's a silly idea (you can't assume that women will do a better job than men, even though it's tempting to think they can), but more importantly there is zero chance that it is going to happen. So one can only assume that she is just doing it for the attention.

What is even funnier is that little OJ has seized the opportunity to claim the moral high ground by asking why Lucas hasn't included Diane Abbott in her pretend cabinet, and implying that Lucas is racist. OJ knows quite well that it isn't going to happen, so quibbling about who should or should not be in this non-existent thing is entirely beside the point.

[Imnobody4]

Has she taken leave of her senses. Why? What? How? I used to admire her-all my heroines are now dust.

[dolorsit]

Brainfart

Do you really think that politicians such as Grieve are going to stop their cross party cooperation just because an all woman cabinet has been mooted?

This is just one potential strand.

We are in an unprecedented situation where party politics is collapsing. We potentially have conservatives willing to vote for their own government to fall leaving 14 days for a new administration to form.

In that case labour will attempt to form a minority government with a leader who seems quite happy to brexit, we have some sort of national unity government (unlikely to be supported by corbyn) or we have general election.

I think if Grieve is willing to vote against his own party and sacrifice his own political career for what he sees as the good of the country a potential all female unity cabinet is not going to stop him.

In fact if this female unity cabinet is formed with the sole intention to stop brexit and legislate for another referendum I think Grieve would embrace that option. Him and Starmer would probably have a draft bill ready to present to the cabinet. (He'd probably also be made head of one of the committees dealing with this)

We already have a government that no one has voted for but don't worry we're not going to get an all female unity cabinet.

This is a political strategy by Lucas, nothing more, to apply pressure to labour who refuse to consider any option other than Corbyn as PM.

It's not going to work but I tell you if this group of women give any indication of interest it would send an earthquake through the system and possibly force labour to reconsider their strategy.

[BrainFart]

I didn't say they'd stop their cooperation because it has been mooted. I would say that I don't see what was in it for them, and I believe that all politicians whatever their stripe, are very concerned by what is in things for them.

Who would go from being a leading anti-Brexit figure (albeit hated by his own party), to a non-player (and still hated by his party), all whilst bowing to some craven identity politics.

Also, why on Earth would he and Starmer draft the bill ? Why wouldn't this super-woman cabinet do the work and draft the bill ?

TBH, I'm not really arsed by the endgame regarding Brexit. WHat I hate is the idea that discrimination becomes OK because "it's in the national interest". Replace all-female cabinet by a call for an explicitly...

all-Christian cabinet
all-heterosexual cabinet
40-and-over cabinet
parents-only cabinet
all-male cabinet
all-white cabinet
all--pure-British cabinet (no dual nationalities allowed)
all-English cabinet

... and I feel pretty sure that any right-thinking person would be outraged. Brexit is not a justification for comprising a fundamental principle that sex / race / religion etc... have no place in the reckoning of government members.