Caroline Lucas calls for an all-women cabinet

I have rarely seen such a unifying statement - quite something to achieve condemnation from every angle and political perspective. Not quite what she had in mind when she floated this sexist nonsense.

What sprang to mind with me was the frequent refrain of my youth ‘ ‘“what we need to stop war is to have a woman running things “ Then we had Margaret Thatcher......

I think it's the opposite of progressive to argue women will behave in a certain way just because they are women.

I'm really disappointed in Caroline Lucas, I used to have a lot of respect for her.

I thought it was embarrassing patronising nonsense from someone who wanted to be the centre of attention. And particular nonsense from someone who claims being a woman's is a feeling not a biological reality.

And I do think not including Diane Abbott shows at best unconscious racism.

Nothing but nothing would possess me to vote for Lucas

She could always invite Anne Widdecombe and Annunziata Rees Mogg to be special advisors.

LOL. I think one thing she doesn't take into account is that, even if we accept that women in general tend to behave more co-operatively (which I think is probably true, with caveats), the kind of women who go into politics aren't representative of women in general. Can you imagine trying to collaborate with Arlene Foster on something? Reaching a compromise? No, me neither.

Am getting a bit of a Floaters earworm:

Cancer, and my name is Caroline. And I like a cabinet that's All Woman...

Everything I've read about Boris Johnson from former colleagues suggests precisely that.

Agree - most political commentators seem to agree that Johnson is not well liked by his fellow MPs. He doesn't do the work and then steals the lime light. He is still fundamentally a newspaper columnist, not a working MP. His power is based on his Telegraph columns, not his support in the house.

"In my experience, women tend to be less tribal, they tend to find it easier to establish trust more quickly,"

So will she be inviting Priti Patel and Andrea Leadsom into the cabinet?

She could always invite Anne Widdecombe and Annunziata Rees Mogg to be special advisors.

All girls together right? with their special wimminz skills?

Well this is the woman who is calling for the "peoples vote" (fine), but then went on record as saying that if it went to "leave" again, she would still not accept the result.

Whatever you feel about Brexit, I think this is an appalling view of democracy.

How did he convince those people in the PCP, then the Tory party as a whole, that he was the best bet ? He must have fairly considerable powers of something...

He clearly has a good deal of personal charm. Everyone says that about him, including Purnell. (Incidentally, Purnell has a grudge against him because he treated her badly - you seem to be implying that she only claims he treated her badly because she has a grudge against him, which is back to front.)

But having personal charm is not at all the same thing as being good at co-operating, let alone being good at negotiating, which is a very particular skill. Theresa May was apparently poor at both, yet became prime minister. (And she seemed to lack personal charm as well, so that particular ascent to success is something of a mystery.)

Identify a terrible, horrendous political situation. Propose a completely batshit stupid remedy.

I'm pretty sure that's the green party motto. The last one was for zero carbon emissions (not nett) by next year or some such. It would have required everyone to stop respiring.

The Challenor debacle was just one sign amongst many that the Greens are more interested in student politics than achieving anything.

Is she a mole working for the Tories? What a gift to Boris to hand him this distraction that makes the Remain class look like they've completely lost the plot.

What I'm trying to say is that the fantasy cab is too white, but not for the reasons it's being criticised for.

I agree, but I don't think this was about picking women because of their negotiating ability.
It's obvious that Lucas picked ten women whose views on Brexit align with hers.

I personally don't have a problem with that if she believes that it could lead to some good ideas, but dressing it up as 'female cooperation' is disingenuous and a fairly stupid move, because she is now unable to explain why Diane Abbott, a senior female Labour member, isn't one of her "10 women who represent the nations of the UK and the leadership of the relevant political parties/groupings", but Yvette Cooper is.

As much as this has been annoying me today, I can actually sort-of-see why she sent it to Emily Thornberry rather than Diane Abbott, as the rank of Foreign Minister seems to supercede that of Home Minister...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_rank

Although I would say that Abbott is certainly perceived to be the higher-ranking member in terms of "visibility" and proximity to the Labour leader.

That's a completely meaningless statement and she knows it. The Green Party believes anyone who says they're a woman or feels a bit 'feminine' 2 days a week automatically is a woman. So theoretically Boris could declare himself A Lady tomorrow and make Caz's day

There's enough sexist gendered brains bullshit around without this too. FFS.

Or, if he and other top politicians don't have these skills then what are they truly worth in the political world if you can rise to the top without them ?

From a clearly unbiased source who in-no-way bears a grudge against him ?

I'm not defending him, he's quite clearly a prick. But to pretend that he has climbed to the heights of PM whilst being a poor negotiator or bad at cooperating, just can't be true. He needed support from somewhere, how did he get it ? How did he convince those people in the PCP, then the Tory party as a whole, that he was the best bet ? He must have fairly considerable powers of something...

This, from Sonia Purnell, for example:

"Johnson has always wanted to win at all costs, by fooling people into believing his performance or by sabotaging rivals if necessary. Indeed, the first time I met him, me fresh off the plane as an eager new correspondent, he knowingly sent me in the wrong direction for a press conference in one of the main EU buildings so that I arrived unprofessionally late."

Do you genuinely believe Boris Johnson, for example, has poorer powers of cooperation and negotiation than the average MP ?

Everything I've read about Boris Johnson from former colleagues suggests precisely that.

The idea that women are generally better at cooperating hasn't been pulled out of thin air, there is actually a fair bit of evidence to support it.

Clearly the evidence did not include numerous episodes of The Apprentice

Why didn’t CL just vote for Theresa may in the first place? She’s a woman and she had a deal.

So why Emily Thornberry, but not Diane Abbott?

I don't know, maybe it was an unconscious racist bias. My point was that she wasn't considering race in her equation. Her thinking was "I think women are better at negotiating than men, so let me choose an all women cabinet". She only believes that sex is relevant to negotiating ability. Saying "those women are all white" is based on believing that both sex and race are relevant to negotiating ability, as in "yes an all women cab is better than a mixed/ male cab, but a racially diverse all woman cab is better than a white all woman cab". And whilst there is evidence that there's a sex based difference when it comes to negotiating, there's no evidence that there's a race based difference. So you could plausibly say that an all women cab is better at negotiating than an all male cab, but I don't see how it's plausible to say that a racially mixed cab is more effective at negotiating than an all white cab. A racially mixed cab is important for representing the different perspectives in our country, so you could definitely argue the cab was too white from that perspective, but if your reasoning was based on representing diversity then the cab should also include men. What I'm trying to say is that the fantasy cab is too white, but not for the reasons it's being criticised for. An all white cab fails for the same reason an all women cab fails - it doesn't adequately reflect our population. But since race, unlike sex, isn't relevant to negotiating skills sex, the ethnic make up of the cab shouldn't make any difference from that POV. You might as well say that the cab was too full of able bodied people. Is there a link between disability and negotiating skills? Would including a woman with disabilities make the cab better at negotiating. I don't see how. It's the same principle with race.

I think generally those qualities are probably in short supply amongst politicians, particularly the ambitious ones.

I love the idea that people who have risen to become MPs, and recognised as powerful / ambitious, have done so with reduced abilities in cooperation and negotiation. What properties do you think got them there in the first place ? Do you genuinely believe Boris Johnson, for example, has poorer powers of cooperation and negotiation than the average MP ? Or would it be too horrific to realise that, actually, he is probably amongst the most cooperative and best negotiators in the HoP (and I say this as someone who loathes him) and that is exactly why he has been able to negotiate his way to the top ?

CL said women because she meant women. Not best negotiators. Not best cooperators. I agree wholeheartedly that the best cooperators and negotiators should be there. Unfortunately a) plenty of them are horrifically morally compromised and b) it is not split along sex lines.

So what Lucas should actually be looking for is a cabinet full of the best cooperators, who are least likely to exhibit masculine grandstanding and power grabbing.

I very much agree with this, and with the rest of your post. It would be fun to try to put together a cabinet of people with exactly those talents of co-operation, negotiation and so on. I think generally those qualities are probably in short supply amongst politicians, particularly the ambitious ones. Yvette Cooper seems pretty good to me. Not sure who else, though.

As for the "your fantasy cab is too white" comments, that also misses the point spectacularly. The point is to bring together the best cooperators. Lucas believe sex is relevant in that equation so she's assembled a cab based on sex. She clearly doesn't think race is relevant to that equation, so why would she consider the race of the women in her cab?

So why Emily Thornberry, but not Diane Abbott?