A CHESHIRE MP has returned to the Cabinet in Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle as the ‘Minister of common sense’.
Tatton MP Esther McVey has been appointed as a Cabinet Office minister without portfolio to lead the government’s anti-woke agenda.
The 56-year-old attended her first Cabinet meeting today, Wednesday, alongside David Cameron, who has come back as Foreign Secretary.
She will be working across all government departments.
Ms McVey said: “I am delighted to have been invited back into government.
“It is a real privilege to be asked to serve the country and I look forward to taking on this new role.
“When I got the call from the Prime Minister, I had just finished one of my regular ‘Ask the MP’ sessions in the constituency. I then travelled back to London to meet with him.
“Whether a backbencher or a Cabinet Minister, my priority is the Tatton constituency, just as it was when I was Secretary of State for DWP and Deputy Chief Whip.
“As your local MP I have campaigned for many issues including keeping our train ticket offices open, HS2, recognition for emergency workers killed in the line of duty, food security and farming, money for Knutsford market hall, local road repairs and better broadband for rural areas among other things.
“And I will continue to fight for our local priorities from within Cabinet.”
Ms McVey has held different roles in government under previous Prime Ministers, including Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Housing Minister and Deputy Chief Whip.
Her husband says she will ‘put her stamp on the job’.
Philip Davies, who is also an MP and hosts a GB News show with Esther at weekends, said: “It was a shock all round, it was certainly a shock for us.
“You don't have to be a political genius to work out that the Conservative Party's not in the best of shape at the moment, if you just look at the poll ratings.
“It's incumbent upon anybody who is asked to get involved and join up and try and help the situation.
“That's really the basis upon which Esther wanted to help the Prime Minister.
“We've got a big year ahead of us to try to bring things round and everyone needs to put their shoulder to the wheel to try and do so.”
In a discussion with Andrew Pierce and Bev Turner, he continued: “It's a new job and so it's up to her to put her stamp on it. And one thing that anyone knows about Esther is she'll certainly put a stamp on it.
“The idea will be that she'll be able to work with government departments to try and bring forward some common sense measures, and no doubt they'll always be a role for somebody in the Cabinet Office, to squash any ideas that are coming through that are not sensible and common sense.
“The Cabinet Office has that role to try and promote good things and squash bad things.”
He added: “There's an awful lot of stuff - non-common sense that goes on in government. Her job is to do what she can to try and put a stop to some of the nonsense that we see being, bring a bit of common sense back to things.
“There's a huge amount of taxpayers’ money wasted on this equality, diversity and inclusion thing, in national government and local government.
“There's no doubt she's got her work cut out, because there's a huge blob in there in government who are very keen on all that.”
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