The joke that is the new Conservative cabinet

Prime Minister David Cameron announced his new cabinet this week, the first all-Tory cabinet in nearly twenty years.

The first meeting – which TV cameras had been allowed to record – kicked off with Etonian-style table banging and cheers of approval from ministers.

So let’s take a look at some of Cameron’s most colourful cabinet members.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (reappointed) has regularly manipulated figures (OK, lied) in relation to the deficit, corporate tax avoiders, economic policy and welfare cuts to name but a few.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith (reappointed) will oversee a further £12bn welfare cuts over the next few years. In addition to his Universal Credit programme not achieving value for money and being slower to implement than predicted and his savage sanctions and benefit caps, IDS strongly supports the exploitative Zero-Hours Contracts.

Minister for Employment Priti Patel who will oversee benefits sanctions, has said previously that she would support a return of the death penalty and refused to either confirm or deny her views during a Sky News interview this week.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt (reappointed) has been instrumental in the privatisation and subsequent dismantling of the NHS.

Junior Health Minister Ben Gummer is ‘personally and principally opposed’ to abortion and leading charities have urged him to reconsider his anachronistic stance.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, former political secretary to Margaret Thatcher, will oversee the future of the BBC and has described the license fee as ‘worse than poll tax’. In addition to his pro-gambling stance, he has voted against gay marriage and is opposed to the fox hunting ban.

Disabilities Minister Justin Tomlinson has voted in favour of the bedroom tax and has voted against protecting benefits for disabled children and cancer patients.

Justice Secretary Michael Gove, formerly Minister for Education, is in favour of capital punishment and has said previously that the UK was wrong to abolish hanging in the 1960s. He is also intending to repeal the Human Rights Act.

Minister for Equalities, Caroline Dineage despite claiming she is ‘fully committed’ to LGBT rights, actually voted against gay marriage in 2014.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan (reappointed) is anti-arts education and has previously advised teenagers not to study arts and humanities if they a decent job. According to the Independent, she also pulled out of speaking at a teachers’ union NASUWT conference at short notice.

All in all, quite a nice bunch, then.

 

Image source: http://www.dw.de/cameron-meets-with-new-all-conservative-cabinet/a-18445763 (Reuters)

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