The right are in hysterics over some women being promoted. But the real picture is very different to the one 10 Downing Street are trying to present.
‘Massacre’ is not a word that should be used lightly. But when you’re a tabloid, decorum and sense aren’t really qualities which matter.
The front page of the Daily Mail today screams ‘Massacre of Middle-Aged Men’.
Certainly the image the PM’s office is trying to give off is one of diversity and representation.
But what are the facts?
- Just five of Theresa May’s 22 Cabinet ministers are women, the same number as before the reshuffle. Men still account for almost 70% of ministers
- May’s new Cabinet contains only one ethnic minority minister, and just one who is openly LGBT
- According to the Sutton Trust, 34% of Theresa May’s new cabinet were privately educated – an increase from her first cabinet in 2016 (30%) – while 24% of the new cabinet attended selective state schools
Meanwhile the proportion of middle-aged people barely changed:
As the New Statesman‘s Media Mole writes:
The number of women has only risen by nine – there are still more than double the number of men (82, down from 89) than women (38, up from 29)…
The average age of ministers has only decreased by a year (51, down from 52).
Meanwhile, the key figures controlling back-benchers are…you guessed it:
Kelly Tolhurst
Mims Davies
Amanda Milling
Jo Churchill
Wendy Morton
Nusrat Ghani
all appointed to Govt whips office.
But all the women are junior whips. Top four senior whips posts are filled by men (Smith, Pincher, Harris, Spencer)— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) January 9, 2018
The insecure responses from Mail readers have been hilarious to read:
‘Massacre of Middle-Aged Men’ screams the Daily Mail.
‘White men are an oppressed minority’ sob their readers. pic.twitter.com/fqhGEzq54H
— The DM Reporter (@DMReporter) January 10, 2018
Those poor white men, still dominating the corridors of power…
Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.
One Response to “The Daily Mail says there’s been a ‘massacre’ of white men in the Cabinet. Here’s the truth”
patrick newman
There are over 11 million people (17%) with a limiting long-term illness, impairment or disability. So how many in the Cabinet are so classed? I suspect the largest grouping (by self-assessment not by evidence of practice) is Christians.