With the high-profile resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson, Theresa May has had to reshuffle her cabinet. The issue is that the Tories the prime minister has promoted have an embarrassing thing in common: they all have abysmal views on the departments they now run.
Additionally, they are all white, middle-aged men.
Geoffrey Cox
May has promoted Geoffrey Cox to attorney general, meaning he is responsible for the rule of law in the UK. Yet Cox’s voting record shows he is unfit to head our legal system:
- Consistently voted for making the mass surveillance of innocent citizens legal
- Constantly voted against expanding local democracy
- Voted for privatisation of assets that were owned by the people
Mathew Hancock
With Jeremy Hunt promoted to foreign secretary, the prime minister filled the position of health secretary with Matt Hancock. Even though Hunt is gone, it’s not good news for people who value a fully public NHS, as Hancock’s voting record and financial backers suggest:
- He voted in favour of the Health and Social Care bill, which opened up the NHS to commercialisation
- He’s consistently voted in favour of allowing NHS trusts to profit from patients
- He is funded by the chairman of the Institute for Economic Affairs, which has an outright policy of privatising the NHS
Dominic Raab
May promoted former housing minister Dominic Raab to Brexit secretary after the resignation of David Davis. Leading the department for exiting the EU, the MP for Esher and Walton is responsible for protecting workers’ rights post-Brexit. But Raab has some backwards views on the matter, which this video from GMB union shows:
The Prime Minister has appointed someone to be Brexit Secretary who believes in weakening workers' rights.
Dominic Raab is a direct threat to UK workers.
SHARE the facts ↓↓ pic.twitter.com/Ryrxe6uX8z— GMB Union (@GMB_union) July 9, 2018
Jeremy Hunt
Hit with the resignation of Boris Johnson, May promoted Jeremy Hunt to foreign secretary. But the MP for South West Surrey’s voting record and statements show he has some terrible views on foreign policy:
- No matter the country or situation, Hunt has consistently voted for military action overseas.
- Wants to “combat” the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) that aims to end the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.
- Consistently voted for Trident renewal
Jeremy Wright
Jeremy Wright has replaced Hancock as culture secretary. Wright is now responsible for culture, digital, sport and media in the UK. But his record shows he:
- Generally voted against equal gay rights
- Voted in favour of repealing the human rights act
- Doesn’t have a Twitter account and has said the word “digital” twice in 13 years in parliament.
May has gifted every one of her cabinet promotions to a white, middle-aged man. And all of them have awful opinions on the crucial sections of British society they now run. We need to throw these dinosaurs out of parliament, now.
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Featured image via Влада на РМ/ Flickr, gdsteam/ Flickr and Tenger/ WikiCommons
