Leadership candidates promise more places for women in top jobs

Leading figures in the Labour Party have pressed for greater women’s representation in the top echelons of the party

by René Lavanchy
Friday, May 28th, 2010
creative commons photo by steve punter (Flickr)

Labour is currently led by a woman - but five out of six leadership contenders are men

Women’s representation among Labour’s opposition jobs in Parliament has become an issue for the leadership candidates this week, as all contenders sought to show they could renew the party.

Pressure is mounting to give women a greater role in the Shadow Cabinet when a new front bench is chosen after the leadership contest finishes in September. Only four women sit in Labour’s 23-strong Shadow Cabinet – the minimum number that MPs must vote for in Shadow Cabinet elections.

Former Energy Secretary Ed Miliband began the debate at centrist Labour campaign group Progress last week, calling for one-third of Shadow Cabinet positions to be reserved for women – the same proportion that currently make up the Parliamentary Labour Party.

David Miliband met his brother’s challenge this week, promising a meeting of female Labour MPs he would require women to occupy a third of positions on the Shadow Cabinet, non-cabinet ministerial posts and select committees.

Criticising the overwhelmingly male makeup of the current leadership slate, he said: “We need to take a step back and ask ourselves some very serious questions starting with how did we get to this place? One of the key planks of my campaign will be to look at the systemic issues preventing women from entering politics and break down those barriers”. Mr Miliband promised that a “women’s movement of ideas” would report to him on how to increase their role in the party.

Diane Abbott, the only female leadership candidate, this week told Tribune she wanted to see women in half of Shadow Cabinet positions. Andy Burnham, John McDonnell and Ed Balls had not responded as Tribune went to press.

Meanwhile, new contenders have emerged for positions on Labour’s national executive committee, for which elections are also being held this summer. Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced last week he is to stand for the role of party treasurer,  while former London mayor Ken Livingstone and Young Labour national chair Sam Tarry are standing for constituency positions.

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About The Author

René Lavanchy is staff reporter for Tribune
  • http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/ Peter Kenyon

    Dear Rene

    It’s good to see the Labour Leadership candidates playing catch-up to a debate triggered by Left Futures and followed up with a post on my blog nearly two weeks ago:

    http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/2010/05/left-futures-points-up-plp-elections-diversity-remains-an-opportunity.html

  • http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/ Peter Kenyon

    Dear Rene

    It’s good to see the Labour Leadership candidates playing catch-up to a debate triggered by Left Futures and followed up with a post on my blog nearly two weeks ago:

    http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/2010/05/left-futures-points-up-plp-elections-diversity-remains-an-opportunity.html

  • Pete

    Does Labour not have any “natural” leaders? That’s the sort of person they need – boy scout leaders – school captains – someone that people naturally turn to for leadership.

    The problem with Labour is that it seeks out “smart” people and do not care about “leadership” qualities. Ed Balls is undoubtedly smart (very very smart in fact) – but he has zero “leadership” qualities.

    Someone like John McDonnell seems to have the qualities needed to be PM but “not the MP votes”. Seems very odd!

    David Milliband has the “smarts” but again not the leadership qualities. After all, how smart did you have to be to see how poor a PM Gordon Brown was and how badly Labour would do in an election under him. If he was a leader he should have lead a coup against GB!

    Labour should look at the Mrs Thatcher example. She was the only one who stood against Ted Heath (again another guy with zero leadership qualities). David Cameron has it – David Davis did not.

  • Pete

    Does Labour not have any “natural” leaders? That’s the sort of person they need – boy scout leaders – school captains – someone that people naturally turn to for leadership.

    The problem with Labour is that it seeks out “smart” people and do not care about “leadership” qualities. Ed Balls is undoubtedly smart (very very smart in fact) – but he has zero “leadership” qualities.

    Someone like John McDonnell seems to have the qualities needed to be PM but “not the MP votes”. Seems very odd!

    David Milliband has the “smarts” but again not the leadership qualities. After all, how smart did you have to be to see how poor a PM Gordon Brown was and how badly Labour would do in an election under him. If he was a leader he should have lead a coup against GB!

    Labour should look at the Mrs Thatcher example. She was the only one who stood against Ted Heath (again another guy with zero leadership qualities). David Cameron has it – David Davis did not.

  • swatantra

    A natural leader suddenly ‘emerges’ from nowhere. You can’t plan for it or work at it. Its someone who captures ‘that special moment in time’. Tony Blair had it in ’97 but soon lost it at the turn of the millenium. Cameron hasn’t got it; he is not charasmatic but very pedestrian. Clinton had it for a while but lost it. Kennedy had it but his money helped a lot. There were some glimpses of natural leadership in Sarah Palin but her extreme policies do polarise people. A natural leader must unite people. Thatcher had it for a while but soon lost it when she became too partisan. There is no one I can see in the LP at the moment who is a natural born leader.

  • swatantra

    A natural leader suddenly ‘emerges’ from nowhere. You can’t plan for it or work at it. Its someone who captures ‘that special moment in time’. Tony Blair had it in ’97 but soon lost it at the turn of the millenium. Cameron hasn’t got it; he is not charasmatic but very pedestrian. Clinton had it for a while but lost it. Kennedy had it but his money helped a lot. There were some glimpses of natural leadership in Sarah Palin but her extreme policies do polarise people. A natural leader must unite people. Thatcher had it for a while but soon lost it when she became too partisan. There is no one I can see in the LP at the moment who is a natural born leader.

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