Boris Johnson is facing criticism after his mini-reshuffle saw the majority of top roles going to men, while women were handed unpaid jobs.
The Prime Minister moved around his team on Tuesday in a bid to reset No 10 in the wake of the “partygate” scandal.
But the shake up at cabinet level involved mainly middle-aged white men, while the majority of women who were promoted received unpaid Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) roles as assistants to ministers.
The moves have led to the restructure being dubbed the “he-shuffle”.
Tory MP Caroline Nokes, Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, said: “Important to emphasise PPS positions are unpaid, so in reshuffle it appears the men got the paid jobs and the women the unpaid ones - wonder how that further skews the Government’s gender pay gap.”
Four MPs–Sarah Dines, Lia Nici, Joy Morrissey and James Duddridge–were promoted to PPS in Tuesday’s reshuffle.
Heather Wheeler was made a parliamentary secretary in the Cabinet Office, a paid position, and Wendy Morton was promoted to parliamentary under-secretary to the minister of state in the Department for Transport.
James Cleverly was moved within the Foreign Office to become Europe Minister and former deputy chief whip Stuart Andrew went to Michael Gove’s levelling up department as housing minister.
Former Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg was appointed Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency.
Other top jobs went to Mr Johnson’s ally Chris Heaton-Harris who was appointed the new Chief Whip, taking over from Mark Spencer who was moved to leader of House of Commons.
Important to emphasise PPS positions are unpaid, so in reshuffle it appears (so far) the men got the paid jobs and the women the unpaid ones - wonder how that further skews the Government’s gender pay gap. https://t.co/nTHTisFicx
— Caroline Nokes MP (@carolinenokes) February 8, 2022
Some MPs expressed dismay at Mr Spencer’s appointment while under investigation for comments allegedly made to Tory MP Nusrat Ghani regarding her Muslim faith.
Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow Commons leader, said: “This is just the latest in a long line of appointments that demonstrates this Government’s complete disregard for standards in politics.”
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner took a swipe at the fact that the reshuffle only included men, tweeting: “Whopping more than £35k pay rise for Jacob Rees-Mogg who was up to his neck in the Owen Patterson scandal.
“Similar rise for Michael Ellis who is clearly being rewarded for answering tricky questions on behalf of others.
“Who said dull men don't fail upwards?”
