New Times,
New Thinking.

Why a wave of retirements among Conservative women should worry Boris Johnson

Under David Cameron, the Tory party was a very different political party to the one we see today. 

By Stephen Bush

Nicky Morgan has announced that she will stand down from the cabinet and the parliamentary party at the next election, becoming the 20th Conservative – and the ninth Conservative woman – to announce their retirement.

It’s that latter statistic – 19 women are stepping down, many more than we’d expect – that is alarming many at Westminster, despite being proportional to the number of women in parliament as a whole. This is because until David Cameron and Theresa May both made it their personal political priority to redress the gender balance of the Conservative Parliamentary Party, there weren’t that many female Tory MPs.

These aren’t the usual retirements of successful politicians in the autumn of their careers – we’re not looking at the female equivalents of long-term frontbenchers like Ken Clarke, Michael Fallon, and David Lidington, but highly rated young women like Seema Kennedy, Claire Perry, and Morgan herself, all of whom might have credibly led their party one day.

British Future’s Sunder Katwala has crunched the numbers, which confirm that anecdotal impression: the average age of a retiring Conservative man is 64, of a retiring Labour man is 65, of a retiring Labour woman 67, and of a retiring Conservative woman is 50. 

That latter number is younger than Boris Johnson, Theresa May, Gordon Brown, Margaret Thatcher, Jim Callaghan were when they reached the summit of British politics, and only a touch older than Harold Wilson (48) and John Major (49) were when they did. There is something significant happening to women elected under Conservative colours.

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Part of that, as Ailbhe explains well here, is the toxic atmosphere faced by all politicians in growing numbers. The statistical story, that women MPs receive more abuse than male MPs is well-known. But gender is, I think, something of a false correlation here: the big reason why so many young, promising Conservative women are standing down is that the Conservative Party has changed.

If you’re a female Conservative MP then more likely than not you were first elected under David Cameron, whether in the wave year of 2010 or the majority year of 2015. That was a very different political party – economically and socially liberal, committed to our membership of the single market, financially austere – to the party you’re being asked to swear loyalty to in 2019: authoritarian on crime, committed to a very hard Brexit, borrowing and spending freely.

What these retirements have far more in common with is the exit of Owen Smith, a Labour MP who we might have expected in different circumstances to have a long front-bench career ahead of him, but who has grown alienated from a party that is radically different from the one that first elected him.

Content from our partners
Homes for all: how can Labour shape the future of UK housing?
The UK’s skills shortfall is undermining growth
<strong>What kind of tax reforms would stimulate growth?</strong>