Tory MP criticises Cameron, saying it’s “tokenism” that got women into the cabinet

Richard Drax, Conservative MP for South Dorset, has said that David Cameron’s decision to promote more women MPs (but remember, with some demotions, on our count there are only 2 more women in the Cabinet than prior to the reshuffle) to the Cabinet is tokenism.

On his website, Drax said that he didn’t oppose women “getting the top jobs” but said they “like their male counterparts” must “get their on merit and not just because they are women and a quota needs to be filled by 2015”.

This is a damning inditement of Cameron’s reshuffle, and many others people from across the political agree have agreed that the PM’s decisions last week seemed to be coloured by tokenism.

However, Drax implies that the women who have been promoted, aren’t up to the job. He argues that “experience counts, too” noting that “the learning curve in the Commons is steep and my intake is still learning the ropes”. While this might be true (the job of a minister is by no means an easy one), dismissing the Conservative women MPs who have been promoted to Cameron’s cabinet is gendered. Would the same be said if they were men…?

But Drax’s attack wasn’t confined to the reshuffle. He also criticised his party’s decision to push through the recall bill – dubbing this move as tokenistic, “knee-jerk reaction to various shenanigans by a tiny handful of MPs whose conduct was brought into question”.He ended by denouncing the idea that new MPs should have to attend ethics classes, saying that it was a  “sad reflection on modern politics that this is even being mooted”.

That reshuffle is still going well then Prime Minister…?