British PM accused of ‘female window dressing’
June 6th, 2009 - 3:06 am ICT by IANS
London, June 6 (DPA) A woman state secretary who resigned in fury from the government of Gordon Brown Friday accused the British prime minister of using women as “female window dressing”.
Caroline Flint, a state secretary for Europe in the Foreign Office, made her remarks in a resignation letter after she was reportedly passed over for promotion in Friday’s reshuffle.
“You have a two-tier government - your inner circle and then the remainder of Cabinet,” she said. “I am extremely disappointed at your failure to have an inclusive government.”
Flint, one of the 101 women who became known as “Blair Babes” after winning parliamentary seats in the 1997 landslide election victory of Tony Blair, served six years in government.
She is a friend of Hazel Blears, the communities secretary who triggered the current flood of resignations from the Brown cabinet with her decision to step down last Tuesday.
Following a reshuffle undertaken by Brown Friday, the number of female full cabinet members in the 23-strong cabinet has dropped to just three.
- Stiletto-wearing sexy British minister booted from cabinet (Lead) - Jun 06, 2009
- Resigned Blairite Ministers plotted to topple Brown - Jun 07, 2009
- Brit minister accuses Brown of using women ministers as 'female window dressings' - Jun 06, 2009
- Fourth British minister quits, Brown urged to step down (Lead) - Jun 05, 2009
- Brown's wife launches 'lasagne offensive' to woo cabinet members - Jul 06, 2009
- Purnell warns Brown to stand down to stop Labour's inevitable election defeat - Jun 05, 2009
- PM meets Sonia, cabinet reshuffle likely next week - Jul 09, 2011
- Vandals attack former UK Minister Blears' car in Manchester - Aug 10, 2009
- UK MPs spend millions of taxpayers' money to clean their flats - May 08, 2009
- Tony Blair was offered final chance to avoid Iraq invasion, Chilcot inquiry told - Jan 21, 2011
- Brown told Blair 'You ruined my life': Book - Feb 25, 2010
- Third minister steps down from Brown's government - Jun 05, 2009
- Brit Home Secretary cleaned toilets to buy Duran Duran records - Sep 16, 2008
- Government allays fears over education bill - Dec 22, 2010
- Manmohan Singh discusses Cabinet reshuffle with Sonia Gandhi - Jan 18, 2011
Tags: babes, british prime minister, cabinet members, caroline flint, failure, flood, foreign office, gordon brown, hazel, inner circle, landslide election victory, last tuesday, parliamentary seats, remainder, reshuffle, resignation letter, resignations, six years, state secretary, tony blair