Caroline Lucas’s call for all-female, all-WHITE cabinet to fight no-deal Brexit attracts mockery
‘Crackpot’: Caroline Lucas.
This was Green MP Caroline Lucas’s attempt to stop Jeremy Corbyn from forming a government after he wins a ‘no confidence’ vote in Boris Johnson’s government.
It will be a relief for Corbyn supporters that her plan is so badly flawed that any of the other women she had suggested for it would be fools to support it.
Here’s how The Guardian reported her plan:
The Green MP, Caroline Lucas, has thrown down the gauntlet to 10 high-profile female politicians over blocking a no-deal Brexit, proposing a cabinet of national unity including Labour’s Emily Thornberry, the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, and the former Conservative cabinet minister Justine Greening to seek legislation for a fresh referendum.
Lucas offered to broker a deal with female MPs from all the main political parties in Westminster, as well as the SNP’s leader, Nicola Sturgeon.
Lucas, who is understood to have begun talks with the women she has addressed in her open letter, sent the offer to Thornberry, Swinson, Greening and Sturgeon, as well as the Change UK MP Anna Soubry, the independent MP Heidi Allen, the SNP’s Kirsty Blackman, the independent Northern Irish MP Sylvia Hermon and Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts.
The final MP who has been approached is Yvette Cooper, one of the leading Labour figures coordinating efforts to stop no deal, but the only one of the addressees who has not explicitly endorsed a second referendum herself.
Unfortunately for Ms Lucas, critics on the social media were quick to point out that her all-female cabinet was also all-white. Why were there no black MPs among them?
And why did they have to be all-female anyway?
Against this sexist and racist background, they also asked why Yvette Cooper had been included; a backbencher who does not support Ms Lucas’s call for a second referendum.
Can you explain why Yvette Cooper – who is a backbencher who isn’t on record anywhere backing a new referendum – represents the Labour leadership – while Diane Abbott – who is Shadow Home Secretary and who backs a new referendum – doesn’t? Why have you just selected white women? https://t.co/Prkr9ETrUq
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) August 11, 2019
It makes perfect sense if you're more interested in getting rid of Corbyn than actually stopping Brexit
— Corbynista Spider's Rights ⛏️ (@arachnochist) August 11, 2019
Diane Abbott is the Shadow Home Secretary, not an afterthought you melt https://t.co/X8pIgAWMBt
— Lara McNeill (@lara_eleanor) August 11, 2019
Then how does Yvette Cooper fit into this? She's not leadership, not deputy leadership, not even front bench.
Seems a feeble excuse for not including BAME women MPs – except Labour's would be too sensible to give it a thought…
— The SKWAWKBOX (@skwawkbox) August 11, 2019
Women only seems kinda weird to me https://t.co/2LQTVniDBy
— Professor Danny Blanchflower economist & fisherman (@D_Blanchflower) August 11, 2019
An emergency cabinet without a single black or brown face. Says it all about Caroline Lucas, her politics and priorities. https://t.co/XIrNi2g5bf
— Amit Mozoomdar (@amozoomdar) August 11, 2019
https://twitter.com/Widox80/status/1160691353581436928
I thank @CarolineLucas for her fight against Brexit, and I will always stand with her on a platform to Remain, but I worry her new proposed plan would not solve our country's divisions. The people must have the final say, not politicians from either side. Here's my full reply. pic.twitter.com/VByHbf9d7Y
— Emily Thornberry (@EmilyThornberry) August 11, 2019
What is the point of the Greens?
Acting as Tory & Lib Dem pawns.
Brexit their only concern.
Vehemently anti Corbyn & hence anti socialism.
Veering to the right in policy making.
Little noise on the impending climate disaster.Vote Socialism. Vote green revolution. Vote LAB!
— Bevan Boy 💚 (@mac123_m) August 12, 2019
Source: Caroline Lucas calls for emergency female cabinet to block no-deal Brexit
I used to quite admire Caroline Lucas. Jeez….
It was good to quickly point out the glaring omission of BAME women from the speculative Lucas cabinet. Though, to be honest, she quickly back-tracked and agreed that Diane Abbott would be a good pick.
But doesn’t the exercise reveal that we are still thinking along the lines of selecting people based on perceived intellectual ability and personal superiority?
If we think about it, we could have a perfectly good cabinet comprised simply of BAME women. A Cabinet consisting of all white men would be a bit lacking but that is what we have tended to end up with for most of recent history. We don’t really need to scrape around looking for talent, though. Why assume that members would have to be “big names”? The Labour Party could furnish a Cabinet of all BAME women just from within its own MPs. And why start scratching our heads trying to think about each individual? Surely, we KNOW they would be reasonably good enough having been elected in the first place.
i think we tend to be a bit precious about MP selection, as if there can only be ONE person in the whole Constituency who is good enough. Of course, certain individuals may be more inclined to want the job, and , of course, we need to make sure their policies are sound, but, beyond that,lots of members would make good MPs. If we look at some Tory MPs (and, dare I say it, some Labour MPs) it is clear that our MP selection processes do not always elevate the best individual.
Perhaps I am just arguing for a more open approach to politics rather than just the focus on getting just that one, special, individual into Parliament and then thinking that we have it all solved.
Also, did no one point out to Lucas that there has been a woman running Brexit for most of the last three years? It’s not as if the process has exactly been starved of ‘the woman’s touch’ up to this point. If, as Lucas claims, women are better at finding a compromise than men, why did Theresa May repeatedly fail to try? I really don’t understand why she felt the need to ‘genderise’ this at all.
At least it wouldn’t include Priti Patel though so that’s something to be thankful for. But seriously, it’s half-baked.
To me, she seems, like Jo Swinson, more interested in preventing the democratic mandate being fulfilled than in healing divisions. She is such a one as tells people that she knows why they voted to leave and therefore their votes should be ignored, because they didn’t actually want to leave. To invoke Theresa May, again, the best way to prevent us leaving without a deal is to get a deal. None of these “let’s stop no deal” M.P.s seems to have any ideas for getting one, especially given that Parliament rejected everything. I do wish that they would put their energies into something constructive, something positive, instead of constantly trying to stop things from happening. If, by the 31st of October, we still have no deal, what plans have they? What if the E.U. has had enough and decides not to grant a further extension, or issues totally unpalatable conditions? What then? These people seem to forget that an extension is totally within the E.U.s gift and it can add whatever conditions it wants.
I see the headline in the article is similar to the one Guido Fawkes ran on the same subject.
I must admit to being a little disappointed in you. Whilst the Guido Blog is pure bilge this one isn’t. The headline is SO easy to misinterpret as Lucas having deliberately called for them to be white as well as female that it would be difficult to imagine you hadn’t noticed.
Criticism of her on this is fine, but misleading headlines are best left to The Daily Mail