Just when we thought nothing to come out of Westminster could surprise us any more, news that Caroline Lucas wants to form an all-female emergency Cabinet to stop a no-deal Brexit has caught even the most seasoned political observers on the hop.
The Green Party’s most high-profile MP has expressed her desire for 10 female politicians from across the House to form “a national unity government” that hits the Pause button on Brexit and allows time for a second referendum, with the choice between staying in the EU or leaving in accordance with the government’s agreed plan, be that deal or no deal.
Her reasoning for calling on this group of women seems straightforward enough. She explained to the BBC’s Today Programme, “In my experience, women tend to be less tribal, they tend to find it easier to establish trust more quickly.” And she expanded in the Guardian, “Because I believe women have shown they can bring a different perspective to crises, are able to reach out to those they disagree with and cooperate to find solutions.”
Inevitably, she’s invited ridicule, but it’s not without precedent. There have been various unity governments in our history, the most recent during World War II, when seven different figures – okay, let’s be honest, men, all of them – served in Winston Churchill’s wartime ministry.
Whose faces would we see around the oval table this time around? Jo Swinson is the only Liberal Democrat on Lucas’s list, while other names are Justine Greening (Conservative), Nicola Sturgeon and Kirsty Blackman (SNP), Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru), Sylvia Hermon (Independent Unionist), and two Independent figures, Heidi Allen and Anna Soubry. Caroline Lucas agrees that such a government would have to be led by a Labour MP, representing the largest opposition party. So that would mean either Emily Thornberry or Yvette Cooper sitting at its head, and they could both be considered calm captains of any potential ship. There isn’t really a dud in this lot.
However, many have been quick to pour scorn on such an arrangement. Current Cabinet member, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss took no time to tweet, “Is there anything more sexist than claiming your gender determines your worldview/behaviour/attitude?”
Times columnist Janice Turner is one of many pointing out how this model unhelpfully perpetuates gender stereotypes while women are continuing to battle for equality at Westminster. She writes, “If there’s one feminist battle worth fighting, it is to insist that women are as varied and multifaceted, as wholly human, as men.”
And, as she points out, this particular trust-building, peace-loving stereotype takes no account of current Home Secretary Priti Patel. One could also quietly point to not necessarily the UK’s second female Prime Minister, but definitely its first to reveal the limitations of these terms.
But her point carries. Yes, Churchill’s band were all men, but that was more by circumstance than design, and in this present day of bickering binary politics, Lucas’s model offers too much instant ammunition to anyone determined to bring it down.
Even some of those included in Lucas’s invitation have expressed reservations. Emily Thornberry has said holiday plans prevent her taking part in the chats. While she agrees the issue of Brexit should be handed back “to the people”, she tweets that her “fear imposing some coalition government without any reference to the public would risk worsening the feelings of anger and resentment towards ‘Westminster.’”
Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru’s Saville Roberts praises Lucas’s efforts but told local radio she wasn’t “entirely comfortable with it being only women and certainly with it being only white women.” Labour’s Clive Lewis made the same point, asking,” Where are the BAME women politicians?” Lucas has since apologised for this omission, saying she welcomes talks with Labour’s Diane Abbott – who for her part says the whole scheme is unworkable.
And here we get to the heart of the matter, because whichever way the pie is cut, whether it’s along party, gender or other lines, somebody’s going to be left out.
On the right of the house, former Chancellor Philip Hammond has led 20 rebel Tories in penning a letter to the new PM to express their fears in his ‘red lines’ to the EU over the Irish backstop. Remember that? The letter is an elegant example of a polite but clear threat of imminent resistance. But will those 20 MPs be queuing up to support Caroline Lucas and her squad? Not if it means losing a General Election.
Over on the left of the House, Jeremy Corbyn has taken the wind out of other groups’ sails by proposing he be made a caretaker PM of time-limited temporary government with the aim of calling a general election and requesting a third delay to the Brexit date.
While Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has made it clear she won’t be signing up to something that hands the reins to Corbyn, with his agenda for long-term power, and long-held Leaver beliefs. But she’s now under huge pressure to put her hand in his, and ‘save the UK from catastrophe’, and the Green leaders are getting similar nudges from their party members.
Ultimately, as Lucas pointed out, it’s about trust, but with October 31st hovering into sight, it’s also about numbers, or lack thereof. Just as Lucas’s bold vision is surely doomed in terms of securing the numbers it needs, so MPs are lining up to pour cold water over Corbyn’s avowal that he can secure enough of a majority to jump in the taxi that John McDonnell says he has waiting for him, and head up the Mall for an audience with the Queen.
As Jo Swinson pointed out, “There is no way he can unite rebel Conservatives and independents to stop Boris Johnson. It’s not even certain he would secure all the votes of Labour MPs.” Ouch!
If it’s small comfort to this head-scratching lot, the current inhabitant of Number Ten’s hallowed oval table isn’t sitting too pretty, either. Despite some cringeworthy attempts at national reassurance by the means of this week’s Boris TV, the PM is, by all accounts, setting out his promise-heavy stall for a General Election, while his T-shirted henchman Dominic Cummings is busy setting out the Downing Street sandbags and making it clear that, even if his boss were to face a vote of no confidence, he’d brave it out and not resign, a sit-in that would precipitate a constitutional crisis, and possibly involve The Queen – something ALL senior personnel both at Westminster and Buckingham Palace would do anything to avoid.
In the scheme of things, then, Lucas’s singular plan suddenly begins to look a lot less outlandish. It’s one way of cutting the pie. After all, with the country otherwise folding itself into a hand-basket in preparation for its journey hell-bound, has anybody got any better ideas?
