Liz Truss’ cabinet: the decay of social politics
Content warning: this article contains discussion of transphobia and abortion.
By Lily Pratt
As the ice from Boris Johnson’s long winter finally thawed, Westminster became flooded with power hungry politicians. Victorious among those in her party was Liz Truss, who, on Monday 5 September 2022, was elected Britain’s third female Prime Minister.
Soon after beating opponent Rishi Sunak, Truss appointed a strikingly diverse cabinet which, terrifyingly, seems to be saturated with staunch loyalists and admirers of empiricism. Certain members of her cabinet, such as Suella Braverman (Home Secretary), can be seen to herald a deep reverence for empire – the cruel underbelly of British history is regarded by the Home Secretary to have been “a force for good.” Yet, it is the Health Secretary, Therese Coffey, who I find holds the most disturbingly antiquated and poisonous ideas, similar to that of the abhorrent Jacob Reese-Mogg (Business Secretary). In 2013, it is recorded that she voted against same-sex marriage and in 2019 Coffey voted against the marriage rights of same-sex couples in Northern Ireland.
I find it incredibly alarming that Britain has a Health Secretary whose beliefs colour her thoughts
In a 2020 interview for Sky News, she said: “I took the view at the time, and I still hold to that, I have a strong faith background about what is a legal partnership and what is marriage”. Faith and the state, in my opinion, are two pillars of society which should stand separate; faith is not, and cannot, become a means to influence political thought and policy. I find it incredibly alarming that Britain has a Health Secretary whose beliefs colour her thoughts surrounding the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the abortion rights of women. It is said that Coffey opposes, but does not condemn, those who have had abortions, yet she voted against abortion rights being extended within Northern Ireland. It is despicable that our Health Secretary should disagree with a paramount human right – the right to one’s own body, and continue a precedent that abortion is something which can be challenged. Her appointment should be met with revulsion, ‘modern Britain’ will no doubt become corrupted by her insidious ideas like oil polluting a pond.
The seediness of Truss’ cabinet cannot be understated. Nadhim Zahawi, for example, is another sordid figure who illustrates the continued degrading treatment towards women by men in power. In January 2018, Zahawi was an attendee of a President’s Club dinner at the Dorchester Hotel, where female hostesses were sexually assaulted and harassed by the attendees. Whilst Zahawai was said to have had no involvement in the harassment and swore to never attend such an event again, he had attended several such dinners in the past. This is rendered even more disturbing by his position as Minister for Children and Families at the time, attending an event where young women were told to wear short skirts which is both sickening and perverse.
I would advise Truss on hiding all of the knives in Downing Street
Transphobia also pervades the cabinet and I find it horrific that this has garnered little to no media attention. When asked if “a trans woman is a woman” Truss stridently replied “No!”. Braverman stated that “I want to make it clear that it is possible, within the law, for schools to refuse to use the preferred opposite-sex pronouns of a child” and Kemi Badenoch (International Trade Secretary) was reported by Vice News to having mocked trans women as “men”. When your words are kind and just, to speak your mind with conviction is noble. Yet when hatred dictates your speech, it is something altogether quite evil. That is why I find the beliefs of the members within Truss’ cabinet to be inherently vile and predict that pure political debate will again become disfigured by corrosive opinions.
It is unfair to label all of Liz Truss’ cabinet homophobic. Among others, Penny Mordaunt (Leader of the Commons) and Chloe Smith (Work and Pensions Secretary) support same-sex marriage and convey more socially progressive opinions. Perhaps Truss’ saving grace is her cabinet’s loyalty. However, with the treachery of Theresa May and Boris Johnson still thick in the air, I would advise Truss on hiding all of the knives in Downing Street to protect her back.
Image: Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street via Flickr
