2 weeks Ago By Will Hazell
She “doesn’t work hard enough”, she’s “out of favour”, she’s “lost her grip”, she’s “folded” to the unions.Certain Labour cabinet ministers have been coming in for a lot public flack since they took office – and not just from opposing parties. Reports often link Number 10 to the hostile briefings.
Increasingly the question is being asked – does Sir Keir Starmer’s Downing Street have a women problem? And some people within government and the wider Labour Party think the answer is yes.if(window.adverts) { window.
adverts.addToArray({"pos": "inread-hb-ros-inews"}); }In recent months, the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy have all found themselves under attack from anonymous sources seemingly at the heart of government.A government source admits that it is “a problem” that it is “generally women” who have been named as candidates for demotion in a Cabinet reshuffle which some people expect after next month’s local elections.
But it goes beyond the briefing – some female Labour MPs think they are taken less seriously by Downing Street than their male colleagues.‘Who do I have to shag to get my messages returned?’“I have had some instances in the past where I thought if I were a man I’d get my questions answered more quickly from No 10, even wondered to myself ‘who do I have to shag around here to get my messages returned?’,” says one of them.if(window.
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adverts) { window.adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l1"}); }The MP sees the “acme of misogyny” as being the briefing against Starmer’s former chief of staff, Sue Gray, which preceded her leaving No 10.
“It’s got a bit better since then,” she concedes.Sue Gray, who resigned from her position as Downing Street chief of staff (Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)Still, the continued briefing and its apparent gender bias has caused enough concern for it to have been raised directly with Starmer.Last month, several newspapers reported that a female minister had flagged the issue with the Prime Minister, specifically calling out the treatment of Phillipson, Kendall and Cooper.
Starmer thinks the briefing is unacceptableStarmer was reported to have said that the briefing was unacceptable and to have threatened consequences if it continues.So what exactly is going on? How widespread is the briefing, who is behind it, and what is it intended to achieve? And is it true that women are genuinely being singled out?Opinions are mixed on whether the current scale and content of briefing significantly differs from governments of the past.Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall is one the Cabinet Ministers who has suffered hostile briefings (Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)A former senior civil servant tells The i Paper it “was ever thus” (see box), particularly in the context of a looming Spending Review which has led to Cabinet ministers jockeying for position to protect their own departments.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l2"}); }“You almost have a pattern of political-media advisers having moments when they are just downright frustrated with the behaviour of other Cabinet members, or maybe thinking that other Cabinet members are being a bit holier than thou and leaving the Prime Minister and Chancellor to carry the can,” the ex-mandarin says.A current Whitehall source argues said that the level of briefing is actually lower than under recent Conservative administrations, when there was “open warfare”. “As soon as a Cabinet meeting finished, you were getting the briefings,” the source said.
However, a well-connected Labour figure believes the situation is unusual for their party and “people are far too relaxed about accepting [it]”.“It’s actually not normal for a Labour government, it might be normal for the last Tory government,” they say.“I know Keir hates this briefing, he’s always told he can’t do anything about it, doesn’t know who it is.
It goes unchecked.” Those responsible should ‘f**king grow up’Some of the anonymous quotes given to the media are so egregious it “almost resembles trolling”. Those responsible should “f**king grow up,” they add.
On the question of whether female ministers are being disproportionately targeted, opinions also differ.if(window.adverts) { window.
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adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l3"}); }Some insiders think that women are not being singled out, pointing to how male Cabinet ministers like the Attorney General Lord Hermer and the Energy Secretary Ed Miliband have also found themselves in the crosshairs.One Whitehall source said they did not know whether there is “an issue about gender or not”.
Former Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh (Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)They said that in some cases of alleged briefing, such as that surrounding Louise Haigh – the former transport secretary who resigned in November after a row about a previous fraud offence – the briefing might have had more to do with Haigh’s position on the Left of the party than her sex.No 10 denies being a ‘boys’ club’Unsurprisingly, No 10 strenuously denies that it is a boys’ club or that female Cabinet ministers are being briefed against.However, there are people within the party who remain to be convinced.
“The briefing often seems to be directed at senior women,” a Labour insider says.“I’m not sure about this idea of No 10 being a boys’ club – but there may be something to it. Which is weird, because there are so many brilliant women in No 10 itself.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l4"}); }Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport Lisa Nandy arrives in Downing Street for a Cabinet meeting (Photo: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)Last month it was Nandy’s turn again, when the Mail on Sunday reported concerns within Downing Street about her, with an anonymous source quoted as saying: “Lisa seems to work about two days a week on her portfolio.”That followed an earlier The i Paper scoop in February revealing she was at risk in a reshuffle because some in No 10 believe she could not be relied upon to show up at events, or Commons statements, when requested to do so.‘Macho atmosphere’Some people think the briefing is driven by a macho atmosphere in No 10.
A source with recent experience of government claims there is “100 per cent” a “blokeish” culture in Downing Street. “They just have a bit of a disdain for women in politics and they don’t want power anywhere else other than in their hands and I think that’s a bit of a problem,” they said.“For some reason Keir seems to be really oblivious to all of this.
” they add.The source thinks the briefing is coming from people around the No 10 chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.Morgan McSweeney replaced Sue Gray as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff (Photo: LinkedIn)The narrative of a “boys’ club” first emerged in opposition amid reports of tensions between Gray and Starmer’s male advisers, including McSweeney.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l5"}); }When Labour entered government, those tensions spectacularly boiled over in the form of aggressive briefing against Gray which included the leaking of her salary.Gray was forced from government shortly afterwards, with McSweeney replacing her as chief of staff.His triumph in the power struggle has made him one of the most dominant figures in Starmer’s government.
The source with recent experience of government accused McSweeney of being a control freak who thinks ministers “should do what he wants to do”. “Secretaries of state often find out about stuff on their area after the fact, which is mad,” they claim.‘He never does it himself directly’On the briefing, they say: “He never does it himself directly, but there are clearly some characters around him who do his briefing for him.
”Others are more sympathetic to McSweeney, arguing that overzealous Labour apparatchiks sometimes clumsily carry out what they imagine to be his bidding without his knowledge or approval.As to the purpose of the briefing, the general belief is that it functions as both a pitch-rolling exercise ahead of a possible Cabinet reshuffle and a message to ministers to up their game.if(window.
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adverts) { window.adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l6"}); }Still, for many the spectacle leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
The fact that a minister has felt it necessary to raise the issue with Starmer himself suggests there is the risk of a substantial backlash if the Prime Minister is not seen to be taking it seriously.The ex-civil servant says: “It does feel like Starmer makes quite a big thing of his integrity and his commitment to his team, and this doesn’t feel like that behaviour”.They don’t “buy” the argument that anonymous briefing is impossible to identify or root out.
And if members of Starmer’s team are engaging in hostile briefing in spite of his disapproval, “there is a legitimate question, which is why are you letting them get on with it?”“There’s an active choice for Starmer to still have them calling the shots.”Parallels with toxic briefing under New LabourAllegations of Downing Street officials briefing against Cabinet ministers are not new.Alastair Campbell faced them in 1998, when he was Tony Blair’s chief press secretary, but strongly denied the accusation.
Elsewhere in New Labour government, Gordon Brown’s spokesman Charlie Whelan was frequently accused of briefing against other cabinet ministers.And Damian McBride – another Brown aide – who now works as a special adviser in the Home Office, admitted in his memoirs to leaking damaging stories about other Labour figures. He was forced to resign in 2009 after leaked emails revealed a plan to smear senior Conservatives.
The idea of women being on the receiving end of such stories is also not new. A former senior civil servant points out that New Labour female cabinet ministers like Tessa Jowell and Mo Mowlam were subject to hostile briefings.“Blokeish media special advisers briefing against high profile female Cabinet members might not be an entirely new thing,” they say.
The ex-mandarin alludes to parallels between the New Labour and Starmer governments, noting the “self-confident and muscular” press operation in today’s No 10.They think the age-old question around briefing by aides still applies: “Just how far is that in line with the wishes of the principals [ministers]?”.And they point out, as in the case of McBride – where Brown was severely politically damaged by the smear revelations – toxic briefing can come back to bite a politician, whether they have directly sanctioned it or not.
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