Kezia Dugdale, the former leader of the Scottish Labor Party, told BBC Radio Scotland this morning that the sexism directed at Angela Raynor in a Mail on Sunday article was a prime example of what women in politics have to put up with all along. She said:
I think this is definitely a particularly glaring example, and the idea of Angela Raynor defeating Oxford-based debating skills of Boris Johnson with just the strength of her legs is just nonsense and funny, but it’s an example of the extreme misogyny that women face. in politics every day.
You have just heard of this particular example because Angela Raynor is tall enough to have the power and authority to summon him and ask for consequences for what happened.
But for many women, they just have to quietly put up with comments like this every day.
Updated at 10.06 BST
Nadine Doris accuses Reese-Mogg of a “Dickensian” approach to civil servants working from home
Jacob Rees-Mogg is at the center of a cabinet scandal over his desire to bring government officials back to their desks, PA Media reported. Nadine Doris, the culture minister, compared him to Scrooge, saying his approach to civil servants working from home was “Dickensian”. PA says:
Doris accused Reese-Mogg, the minister in charge of government effectiveness, of a “Dickensian” approach to the issue.
Reese-Mogg wrote to cabinet ministers urging them to send a clear message to staff about a “quick return to the office” and left notes in Whitehall’s empty workspace with the message: “I look forward to seeing you in the office soon.”
PA continues:
The Times reported that Doris’ response was highly critical of Rees-Mogg’s approach.
Last week, Rees-Mogh presented figures to the cabinet showing that some government departments used only 25% of office capacity in early April – the figure for Doris’s digital, culture, media and sports department is 43%.
Doris told him that his letter to government officials was reminiscent of “images of burning tallow, jealous eyes, and the ghost of Marley,” a reference to Charles Dickens’ “Christmas Carol.”
She said: “There is a touch of something Dickensian in this. Why do we measure bodies behind desks? Why don’t we measure productivity? “
The two ministers have long disagreed on the need to return to work after the removal of coronavirus restrictions. But the dispute between the two was “good-natured,” a government source told the PA news agency.
Reese-Mogg uses an article in the Mail on Sunday to warn that employees may lose weight in London or see that their work has been moved elsewhere if they are not at their desks.
“Essentially, if people don’t go back to their office, it would be fair to assume that the work doesn’t have to be in London,” he said.
Updated at 10.06 BST
Tories behind misogynistic allegations about Angela Raynor “can be disciplined”
Chris Philip, the technology minister, was interviewed for number 10 this morning. As my colleague Rachel Hall reports, Philip said that if government whips found out who was responsible for Rainer’s briefing at the Mail on Sunday (see 9:27 a.m.), they could be disciplined.
Updated at 09.44 BST
Johnson’s criticism of sexist slander against Angela Raynor is inadequate, Labor says
Good morning. Less than two weeks remain until the local elections, the war in Ukraine continues, and the Labor Party announces a new tax policy. Yet Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor who goes around the studios to explain the homeless tax plan, spent much of the morning in response to a sexist report on her colleague Angela Raynor, which first appeared in the Mail on Sunday before more than 24 hours.
In some ways, it’s surprising that a “story” that seems to be based on little more than a shiny comment from a Tory MP (maybe a drink?) Has attracted so much attention. The Mail on Sunday is one of the most pro-terrorist newspapers around, but if anyone there thought that this report would harm Labor, they have made great calculations. (Newspaper leaders often have a poor understanding of political strategy, but ultimately prioritize the sale of newspapers over supporting the political parties they support.)
But despite its apparent ridicule, or perhaps its apparent absurdity, the story hit the string because it highlighted the pervasive sexism that almost all women in public life still face – despite the tremendous progress made in recent decades. An MP said that Glen Owen, the political editor of Mail on Sunday, who wrote the article, should remove the pass for the parliamentary press. It was only last week that there were calls in parliament for another journalist, Times sketchbook Quentin Letts, to have his pass for “disgraceful” misogyny in his reports revoked.
If you want, you can read the original article on Mail on Sunday here. Here is the story of my colleague Heather Stewart for one night about the scandal.
Yesterday, Boris Johnson joined those who attacked the Mail on Sunday report, saying he regretted Raynor’s misogyny. He is now reported to have sent her text messages saying the comments were “not in his name”. It is almost certainly true that number 10 has nothing to do with the briefing, although more and more, while trying to disprove allegations that he made outrageous comments, Johnson is in the position of the boy who called the wolf; having published so much sexist material in his career as a journalist, it is easy to see why people may not believe him when he says it is clear this time. A similar thing happened last week, when he refused to describe the Church of England as pro-Putin.
This morning, in an interview with Sky News, Reeves asked about the official response of the Tories to the article on Mail on Sunday and the fact that Johnson and Nadine Doris, the Minister of Culture, criticized him with identical tweets.
As much as I disagree with @AngelaRayner on almost every political issue, I respect her as an MP and regret the misogyny directed at her anonymously today.
– Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 24, 2022
As much as I disagree with @AngelaRayner on almost every political issue, I respect her as an MP and regret the misogyny directed at her anonymously today.
– Nadine Doris (@NadineDorries) April 24, 2022
Reeves replied:
This does not have to be just a line. This should actually be what you feel and believe in, and you also need action, not just warm words.
Reeves said the Conservatives should make it clear to lawmakers who informed the story that it was “completely unacceptable.”
Here is the agenda for the day.
10 a.m.: Keir Starmer appears on ITV this morning.
10 a.m.: Jacob Reese-Mogg, Brexit Minister for Opportunities, speaks at a meeting of the Center for Policy Studies on UK competitiveness.
11.30 am: Downing Street holds a briefing in the lobby.
2.30 am: Priti Patel, the Minister of the Interior, answers questions in the municipalities.
2.30pm: Nicholas Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, speaks at the Scottish TUC conference.
After 3.30 pm: Deputies discuss the Lords’ amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentences and Courts Bill.
16:00: Sir Stephen Lovegrove, National Security Adviser, testifies before the Municipal Foreign Affairs Committee.
16:00: Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, testifies before the Public Accounts Committee on the recruitment of police.
In addition, Johnson and Starmer must participate in the events of today’s local election campaign.
I’m trying to follow the comments below the line (BTL), but it’s impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, include Andrew somewhere in it and I’m more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they are of common interest, I will publish the question and answer over the line (ATL), although I cannot promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to get my attention quickly, it’s probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.
Updated at 09.58 BST
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