Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced his new cabinet. Sunak, who previously posited himself as a champion of women’s rights, has appointed four less women to the top spots of his new government than his predecessor, Liz Truss.
While many are familiar faces, some of the women in Sunak’s cabinet are relatively new to the upper echelons of the British Government, meaning the public knows little about them. To shed some light on what we can expect from our latest Conservative government, GLAMOUR has done a deep dive on the new women in charge, their voting habits, and attitudes towards women’s issues.
Suella Braverman
The Fareham MP is back as Home Secretary less than a week since she was forced to resign for a "serious breach of ministerial rules." Braverman is on the right wing of the Conservative party and has not always been a supporter of Rishi Sunak though she voted for him to become leader of the party on Sunday.
Braverman’s likes include stringent immigration policy and Brexit, while her dislikes range from “tofu-eating wokerati” to same-sex marriage, which she voted against (in the case of Northern Ireland) in 2019. The returning Home Secretary also voted not to legalise abortion in Northern Ireland that same year and has previously said it’s her “dream” to see asylum seekers flown off to Rwanda.
Speaking at a debate in May this year, Braverman said, “Tackling violence against women and girls is a central mission of this Government” – despite her poor voting record on state and fiscal violence, which includes voting in favour of repealing the 1998 Human Rights Act in 2016 and voting against bringing Government policy in-line with human rights last year.
Her staunchly anti-immigration stance and commitment to criminalising asylum seekers who enter the country illegitimately will disproportionately affect women who, according to this report, make up more than half of all people trafficked into the UK.
Penny Mordaunt
Sunak’s main rival for the most recent conservative leadership race, Penny Mordaunt, remains as Commons Leader. The MP for Portsmouth North bowed out of the race on Monday after failing to get enough votes from her colleagues.
As Commons Leader, Mordaunt organises government business and is responsible for delivering the government’s legislative programmes. In the past, she has almost always voted for a reduction in spending on welfare despite women being more likely to claim benefits at some point in their life than men, and she also campaigned to leave the EU, a decision which also adversely and disproportionately affects women.
Mordaunt was formerly Minister for Women and Equalities from 2018 to 2019. During that stint, she became the first MP to use sign language in the House of Commons, and she voted in favour of same-sex marriage and legalising abortion in Northern Ireland.
She has generally gone against climate-conscious policies, including in 2021 when she voted to exempt taxation and spending, national security and defence from policy areas where ministers would be required to have due regard to environmental policy.
While Mordaunt was named ‘Ally of the Year’ by the Conservative Party's LGBTQ+ group, she faced serious criticism for “throwing the LGBT community under the bus” (via Pink News) during her first leadership campaign. This came after tweeted about “the trans orthodoxy,” seemingly in a bid to win over gender-critical voters.
Let's take a look at his voting record.
Kemi Badenoch
Another previous candidate for Conservative Leadership, Kemi Badenoch will stay in her positions of Women and Equalities Minister and International Trade Secretary. The Saffron Walden MP has a background in engineering and said earlier this year that her department “will do everything [they] can to support women into apprenticeships and engineering.”
During her first bid for leadership in the summer, she acknowledged that rising childcare costs put huge pressure on working families. As part of the government’s Levelling-up report this year, she speaks about a £200 million investment to support struggling families, but this relief isn’t being felt by working mothers amidst the rising cost of living.
Like her peer Suella Braverman, Badenoch is anti-immigration and has voted repeatedly for a stricter asylum system. She also voted to leave the EU and voted against higher benefits for people with disabilities.
Many are also concerned about Badenoch's stance on LGBT+ issues after she met with the LGB Alliance, which has been widely condemned for advocating against transgender people's inclusion within the LGBT+ community. Cleo Madeleine, communications officer at trans charity Gendered Intelligence, spoke to Pink News about Badenoch's appointment, describing it as “a huge step backwards for LGBTQ+ rights in the UK."
Michelle Donelan
Michelle Donelan is the MP for Chippenham who was appointed as Culture Secretary by Liz Truss – a position in which she remains after taking over from Nadine Dorries in September. During her first month in the role, Donelan has said she could potentially overturn Dorries’ plans to privatise Channel 4. Formerly the Universities Minister, she has already shouldered great responsibility in her brief term as Culture Secretary, having had to oversee the arrangements for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
Formerly a marketing manager for WWE, Donelan’s voting record reflects her right-wing politics as she voted not to legalise abortion in Northern Ireland, for lower benefits and higher taxes for low-middle income earners and for cuts in housing benefits. Records also show that she is pro-fracking.
It will be interesting to see what impact Donelan has on the representation of women within British culture as she is now in charge of issues pertaining to social media, sporting events and cultural events such as next year’s Eurovision in Liverpool.
Gillian Keegan
MP for Chichester, Gillian Keegan recently became Britain’s fifth Education Secretary in just over a year. This is Keegan’s first cabinet position though she has previously been Undersecretary for Apprenticeship and Skills, Care and Mental Health Minister and (briefly under Liz Truss) secretary for Africa.
She seems to be one of the more liberal women in Sunak’s cabinet, and voting records show she supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage. However, Keegan consistently voted against measures to mitigate the damaging effects of climate change, including in 2020 when she opposed a motion calling on the Government "to rebuild the economy so that it works in the interest of the many, not just handing out rewards to those at the top" and bring forward "a green industrial revolution to decarbonise the economy and boost economic growth."
Thérèse Coffey
The former Deputy PM and Health Secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has been appointed Environment Secretary by Rishi Sunak. Coffey is an MP for Suffolk Coastal who almost always voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits, including earlier this year when she voted in favour of the welfare cap, restricting the weekly amount of benefits available to claimants throughout the UK.
In 2019 she voted not to allow same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, consistent with her 2013 vote against same-sex marriage in the UK. It’s as yet unclear what her plans are for the environment moving forward, but in the past, she’s voted for the privatisation of England’s state-owned forests, and she voted not to make supporting reducing the United Kingdom's net targeted greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 the initial core mission of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency.
Coffey has also consistently voted against key abortion laws, even introducing a motion calling for women seeking abortions to have mental health assessments and opposing the extension of the right to access abortion pills at home scheme.
The Prime Minister’s wife is said to be richer than the King.
