Anti-Women Briefers in Government Should ‘Shut Up’ – Guido Fawkes

Equalities Minister: Anti-Women Briefers in Government Should ‘Shut Up’

Women and equalities minister Jacqui Smith was on Politics Live chatting about Louise Haigh’s claims that the Starmer government is behaving misogynistically, specifically after fresh briefings in The Sunday Times predicted the sacking of Bridget Phillipson and the abolition of Lisa Nandy’s entire department. Smith denied Starmer was running a “fundamentally sexist” government because he cares about the women in the country:

“Everything I’ve seen Keir Starmer do tells me that he cares deeply about not only the women in his government but more importantly the women in the country and what we can do for them. I get frustrated about a briefing… my message to those who who want to brief against cabinet ministers is: ‘Why not shut up and support the people that are doing the work to get on with it?’”

Smith claimed briefings come from “people who sit on the edge of government who frankly probably don’t have enough to do.” As Henry Zeffman then helpfully pointed out, Downing Street could have shot down those briefings which appeared in the paper. It didn’t…