End the Westminster 'Boys Club': Labour women demand Andy Burnham hands half of top jobs to females if he becomes PM
The group have also requested a “zero tolerance” for bullying, misogynistic briefings, as well as sexual harassment of colleagues and staff
Female Labour MPs have asked Andy Burnham to commit to ensuring at least fifty per cent of his ministers are women.
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In a letter seen by LBC, the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party group have also requested that half of his Number 10 staff are female and that he commits to giving the role of Deputy Prime Minister to a woman.
The former Mayor of Greater Manchester is the only MP who has formally said he will run to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.
The female MPs have also asked that the Makerfield MP commits to creating a First Minister of State for Women role who attends cabinet.
The letter, from the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party Group and backed by the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Women and Girls Harriet Harman, says the female MPs “fought very hard to achieve our electoral success only to find that we are battling within our own party to be heard as women.”
“Rooms where decisions are being made are often closed to us leading to blind spots in appointment decisions and policy development. The tendency of previous leaderships to sideline the voices of women makes us a weaker government,” it says.
The letter also says that, since Labour’s election win in 2024, the group has “raised concerns about structural misogyny, the culture in No10, bullying behaviour being rewarded, sexual harassment being ignored and engagement with both the party and the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] being inadequate.”
The group have also requested a “zero tolerance” of bullying, misogynistic briefings, as well as sexual harassment of colleagues and staff, saying these behaviours should be considered eliminatory to any government position.
Burnham was given this letter at a Tuesday meeting with the Women’s PLP group.
Accusations that Sir Keir Starmer’s administration has a “boys club” culture have intensified since the fallout of Peter Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador.
A female Labour MP said “the Mandelson scandal was a moment of crisis which requires a crisis-level response. We have not had a response from the current administration that is sufficient to the scale of the problem.
“These asks outline an approach which should mean that no poor behaviour is seen as an acceptable risk and is instead assessed as a poor professional mark that reduces the overall performance and effectiveness of us as a government and as a party.”
In the wake of this scandal, Labour peer Harriet Harman told Sky News that Keir Starmer needs to make “sorting out misogyny and culture change” in government a priority.
She also argued that Mandelson’s appointment would not have happened if a woman had been in the decision-making room.
The Labour Party has never elected a female leader. Asked why this is, former Safeguarding Minister Jess Philips told the Hay literary festival that “like all institutions it’s a bit sexist, innit”.