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Johnson represents ‘boys’ club’ approach to Commons, says Rudd

PM’s style means prospects for women are diminishing, according to former cabinet colleague
Boris Johnson is emblematic of a “boys’ club” approach to the House of Commons which makes it harder for women to win promotion, his former cabinet colleague Amber Rudd has said as part of a project in which former ministers reflected on their time in power.
Rudd, who was home secretary under Theresa May, and then quit as work and pensions secretary when Johnson was prime minister, said he was part of an “establishment group” whose style meant the political prospects for women were actually diminishing.
“There is a kind of boys’ club-type behaviour in parliament because it is still more like a public school or a university club than anywhere else you’ll ever go,” Rudd told the Institute for Government (IFG).
“I fear that it’s going backwards a bit at the moment because unless you have the leadership really making an effort to ensure that women are promoted as equals, all the time – not just because, ‘oh, let’s promote the women, we forgot about the women’ – it’s going to be a problem,” she said.
“I see that in Boris Johnson, I’m afraid. Even though I don’t dislike him at all. He’s come from that establishment group. And also, he has that sort of language, which he’s – quite rightly – nervous of using in front of women.”
Rudd said she had left Johnson’s cabinet amid a purge of Tory MPs over Brexit because of the way he treated people.
“It was Boris Johnson’s style of government, really,” she said. “It was the way he treated other people and his determination to deliver Brexit, whatever the cost in terms of the economy and, I thought, the consequences to people’s lives.”
Another former minister, Andrea Leadsom, said that when she was the Commons leader, her relations with John Bercow, the then Speaker, were so bad that eventually they could not have their scheduled weekly meetings alone.
“It reached a point where I had to take someone with me, because of the level of vitriol in those meetings,” Leadsom said. “And he, likewise, said he needed to have someone there, because apparently I was extraordinarily difficult.”
The two clashed repeatedly over how the Commons should operate amid a chaotic period when May was trying to get a Brexit deal through parliament. At one point Bercow was accused of calling Leadsom a “stupid woman” in parliament, which he denied.
In another interview, Jeremy Wright, the former attorney general, who was a cabinet minister under both May and David Cameron, said the latter “let his irritation show more often and more visibly than Theresa ever did”.
He also expressed regret at not having pushed back more against newspaper headlines condemning judges over their handling of high-profile Brexit cases.
At its peak, a Daily Mail headline from November 2016 called three high court judges, who ruled that parliamentary consent was needed for the government to trigger the Brexit process, “Enemies of the People”.
Wright told the IFG: “Where I think we were going wrong … was to allow the sort of abuse to play out in the newspapers, of those who were doing their job as judges and as lawyers.”
source: Peter Walker
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BENEFIT Sponsors BuildHer...
- April 23, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”
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