Boris Johnson sparks cabinet reshuffle confusion with PMQs comments
Boris Johnson said today that he wanted more women in government before appearing to say that a cabinet reshuffle may be on the way.
When asked about the potential for increased involvement of women in government, the Prime Minister said he had “taken dramatic action even before a reshuffle” and pointed out two female appointments he had recently made.
“One of the reasons we’ve made such progress now on test and trace was that Dido Harding has come on board and Kate Bingham is leading the national effort to coordinate our search for a vaccine with other countries,” he said.
The last cabinet reshuffle was just three months ago, with the largest change coming when Rishi Sunak replaced Sajid Javid as chancellor.
Johnson’s comments today sparked interest over whether it meant a post coronavirus reshuffle could be around the corner, with more changes to his top team.
However, when asked about the prospect today the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I’m not aware of any plans of a reshuffle.”
The intrigue was sparked after Labour backbencher Rosie Duffield asked about female participation in government at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).
She cited the fact that only one female, Priti Patel, has taken any of the daily Number 10 press briefings in the past two months as evidence that there is not enough women in the higher reaches of the government.
She said: “Does the Prime Minister agree with me, as the chair of the largest group of female MPs in this house, that we need a change of tone and more female voices at the top of government to reflect the majority of UK population – almost 52 per cent of whom are women.”
Johnson said he agreed with Duffield, before signalling more women would be brought into the government in the future.