The Conservative Party has become “very laddish” under Boris Johnson’s leadership, a former minister for women has said.
Anne Milton said the party’s tone had changed over the past few years, with women being given a less prominent role and men taking a more blokey approach to politics.
Ms Milton, who served in Theresa May’s government but was stripped of the Tory whip by Johnson for refusing to vote for a no-deal Brexit and lost her Guildford seat after 14 years standing as an independent in 2019, was speaking in the wake of the suspension of the whip from Neil Parish for watching porn in the Commons chamber.
Asked if there was a culture of sexism in the Tory Party, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s over two years since I left politics and it feels like it’s got worse. It feels it’s very laddish.
“You don’t see women being put up for the press conferences or doing the media round. There’s a lot of people running around with high-vis jackets and making allusions to rugby scrum.
“So it feels very laddish.”
