Former work and pensions secretary and current GB News presenter Esther McVey has been appointed as a minister without portfolio during PM Rishi Sunak's recent cabinet reshuffle held on Monday, December 11, 2023.
According to a source from the government, quoted by The Guardian, McVey's role will be that of "commonsense tsar." This controversial appointment comes at the expense of the role of 'minister for disabled people' being scrapped by the government.
There have been speculations that with this move, Rishi Sunak is trying to appease the Tory Right after firing Suella Braverman, the controversial home secretary. McVey is reportedly tasked with "leading the charge on the Government's woke agenda," a Whitehall source told The Sun.
Esther McVey will "stand up for the working people," says the Conservative Party
Born in Liverpool in 1967, Esther McVey, aged 56, was educated in a private girls' school where she became head girl. She decided she wanted to be a TV presenter and has worked with various networks, including Channel 5, BBC One and ITV.
Esther McVey began her political career in the early 2000s and won the Merseyside seat of Wirral West for the Conservatives in 2010. As reported by the BBC, she was a minister in the work and pensions department in David Cameron's government but lost her seat in 2015.
Two years later, she returned as the MP for the Tatton constituency in Cheshire, where she was made the secretary for work and pensions in Theresa May's government. She was dismissed by Boris Johnson in 2020, and she returned to her career as a presenter on GB News, co-costing a weekly political program with her husband Philip Davies, also a Conservative MP.
Esther McVey has been vocal about her anti-LGBT, anti-Covid lockdown, and anti-diversity views. While her duties have not yet been listed, many have speculated that she has been appointed in an "anti-woke role" in the Cabinet. Announcing the move on X, the Conservative Party said she would “stand up for working people.”
Her appointment as 'minister for common sense' comes in light of the government's decision to scrap the role of Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, a position that Tom Pursglove previously held. Mims Davies is now said to take on the position in addition to her role as a junior minister responsible for social mobility and youth.
Netizens outraged over the appointment of Esther McVey as "minister of common sense"
People took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their outrage over the government prioritizing the need for a minister for common sense over a minister for disabled people. The reactions varied from trolling to hurt to shock to disgust.
According to the BBC, Conservative Party chair Richard Holden said Esther McVey was a "plain-speaking northerner" who would be a "great addition" to the Cabinet.
"What Esther is going to be doing is bringing that extra dimension to it. What you see is a broad church, Conservative party with a common goal, united together in what it is deciding to put forward to the country. Esther is part of that," Holden added.
As per ITV News, Esther McVey has given up her job as a presenter in GB News, as being a presenter and a minister is not compatible.