Dear Gordon
I believe the achievements of the Labour Government to date have been monumental and you have played an immense part in the creation of those achievements.
However, I am extremely disappointed at your failure to have an inclusive Government.
You have a two tier Government. Your inner circle and then the remainder of Cabinet.
I have the greatest respect for the women who have served as full members of Cabinet and for those who attend as and when required. However, few are allowed into your inner circle. Several of the women attending Cabinet – myself included – have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing. I am not willing to attend Cabinet in a peripheral capacity any longer.
In my current role, you advised that I would attend Cabinet when Europe was on the agenda. I have only been invited once since October and not to a single political Cabinet - not even the one held a few weeks before the European elections.
Having worked hard during this campaign, I would not have been party to any plan to undermine you or the Labour Party in the run up to 4 June. So I was extremely angry and disappointed to see newspapers briefed with invented stories of my involvement in a “Pugin Room plot.”
Time and time again I have stepped before the cameras to sincerely defend your reputation in the interests of the Labour Party and the Government as a whole. I am a natural party loyalist. Yet you have strained every sinew of that loyalty.
It has been apparent for some time that you do not see me playing a more influential role in the Government. Therefore, I have respectfully declined your offer to continue in the Government as Minister for attending Cabinet.
I served six years as a backbencher and, therefore, I am not unhappy to be able to devote myself to promoting my constituency’s interests and to support the Labour Government from the backbenches.
This is a personal decision, which I have not discussed with colleagues.
Yours
Caroline
Friday, June 05, 2009
Caroline Flint's Letter of Resignation
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
86 comments:
Off to an employment tribunal for sex discrimination and constructive dismissal. Then off to hospital.
Iain, who has taken over from Denham at Universities? The Lobby Briefing doesn't show anyone.. or the department...
Richard,
Peter Mandleson takes over a new merged BERR and Innovation and Skills department. On top of that he is now First Secetary of State.
Thanks. Lucky Mandy!
Devastating stuff. One hopes.
Universities is gone - DIUS has been merged in with BEER to creat a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills merged in with Mandelson in charge
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19525
Mandelson is Deputy PM ! Uneffingbelievable.
It shows a horrible weakness by Brown. Brown has just created his own, well ... 'Brown' within his government. Another interfering busybody to split the direction his government (if any) is going in.
Mind you that was a rather nice bit of "window dressing" she posed for last month
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2009/may/10/fashion-caroline-flint?picture=346969477
Phew! Bloody hell. "Two tier Government", "female window dressing", "extremely angry and disappointed", "You have strained every sinew of that loyalty", etc ad infinitum.
A woman scorned, eh? The blogs and the tabloids will have fun with this one.
Poor Gordon really doesn't understand women does he? I'm sure his new best friend Lord Mandy can give him a few tips, I believe he met one of the exotic creatures once.
Wow!! Don't mess with Flint or Blears! What an arrogant, stupid, misogynistic fool Brown is. I hope he soon joins Susan Boyle in the Priory.
Window dressing, Brown needs some salad dressing for the cabbages he has surrounded himself with
A woman scorned is a former cabinet member
Liar.
Why should we believe any of the letter, when the last sentence is such a blatant lie?
Where does making Mandelson Deputy PM leave Harman the elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party which previously led to that coveted position?
Looks like another anti women move by Brown.
This is like "Back to the Future".
The Kinnocks, Mandelson, Brown (Blair and Campbell like ghosts on the edges). I cannot stand a repeat of New Labour. Britain cannot stand a repeat of New bloody Uselss Labour.
What do they say, you wait ages for a train to come along and then two or three gravy trains come along together.
But let's be honest: she was a ghastly excuse for a minister, promoted to the very limit of her abilities largely to satisfy NuLab's quota-government system, and has now shown hersef to be as petty and deluded as her PM. A typical NuLab product, in fact.
Alistair Campbell on his blog...
"So as ministers unite around GB as he conducts his reshuffle today, < b > there has to be real clarity about what it is they are uniting around, < b > and then they have to step up the political fight at every level."
Answers on a postcard please...
"DIUS has been merged in with BEER"
Universities joining up with BEER? There's a surprise!
this is bullshit - shows you how much of the actual of government is out-sourced to quangos and regulatory bodies; these piss poor bastards could all sod off and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference! The real insult here is, with British forces engaged in the most intense combat for a generation the defence secretary walks off and the brief gets handed to some junior wonk who nobody's ever heard of! AAArrrgghh! Excellent work all day Iain by the way.
oops, meant to say 'actual business of government'!
Jesus! I've never read a resignation letter like that. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and all that!
She's a very sexy girl and I wouldn't mind licking her pet beaver.....
(Iain, don't delete this. You have talked in your blog about licking beavers!!)
our we seriously down 6%
looks like hung parliament
So not only is Gordon a workplace bully, he also practices sexual discrimination. oooo
Hell hath no fury...
I thought the day couldn't hold any more surprises, and then this! Rome is well ablaze tonight, methinks.
I wonder if we will see this letter on any of the main media outlets this evening.
Bet the BBC goes to some lengths to supress this story.
I don't get what's going on here.
The Liberals actually have a reduction in seats, yet there vote share increases.
The Tories make some spectacular gains and their share goes down a massive 6%??
Doesn't add up.
Ouch.........
Gordon Brown uses women as window dressing, is going to be his epitaph. Mrs Flint has just done for him in themost unexpected way. RIP Gordon James Brown.
Bloody hell that is vicious
"Gordon Brown uses women as window dressing": unfortunately Sarah Brown does let herself be used in that way.
They plainly desrved each other. There is no doubt the author of this letter is demented too.
Can we look at the facts? GB has surrounded himself with thugs! I did hope with the removal of Damian McBride that No 10 would have improved. Earlier this week they briefed against Hazel Blears - the Telegraph subsequently amended the briefing as the information had been in the public domain for weeks. Yesterday they briefed against Caroline Flint - sexist, disgraceful and wrong. Today, they are briefing against Barry Sheerman! Noone is permitted to have any thoughts never mind actions against the PM. Totally paranoid regarding a group of female (minority) MPs getting together. there must be a conspiracy!!!!
The facts indicate that GB is sexist and a bully. He needs women voters so he dresses his administration. Not to use their intellect and ability but strategically to maintain womens' votes. We can see through him!!! One can see why Cherie Blair loathed him!
I have always supported the Labour Party - not this PM. Caroline Flint is not daft.
"Minister for attending Cabinet..."
Beyond parody.
Then to be replaced by an unelected person, whose prime qualification is being the spouse of a failed politician, parachuted into the cabinet via the House of Lords...
...I deeply dislike Caroline Flint, but this too is beyond belief.
Caroline Flint:
"I believe the achievements of the Labour Government to date have been monumental and you have played an immense part in the creation of those achievements..."
Tom Watson:
"However spitefully your character is traduced and your triumphs degraded by Labour's enemies, they can never erase the towering achievements to your name..."
Is this Stalinist Russia ?
I'm surprised they didn't confess their crimes against the State at the same time.
Sorry lads, but if you think that Caroline Flint is a sex goddess you've not stepped out with much quality totty!
Nice glossy hair, yes, but look again at that hard face and dare I say it, flint-like eyes and think again.
She only has to open that coarse and abrasive mouth to immediately shrink your libido to nothing.
She is an utterly useless minister who brazenly admits not to have read the Lisbon Treaty...but nonetheless she gets an easy ride from these benighted male correspondents who regard her as a sex symbol.
Its amazing how feminists like Flint want it both ways - always willing to trade on their girlie looks when it suites them, then scream sex discrimination when things don't go their way.
Her protestations of loyalty last night followed by resignation today shows just how venal and hypocritical she is.
Forget the movies, I've got my tortilla chips and picante sauce with a glass of wine and I'm watching the all the action on Sky!
Harriet Harman just said on Channel 4 news that Kinnock was "A fresh new face"....
Kalms has been officially purged....
Acadman - great picture of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on the Telegraph webpage
Sour grapes personified. I'm sure everyone will feel sorry for her, being denied a place in the cab-overnment.
So farewell then, Issues Around Flint
At least you will no longer be
Around.
(with apologies to E J Thribb)
Am I alone in seeing the quote below as the most damaging, critical sentence? It seems to summarise her whole complaint.
"Therefore, I have respectfully declined your offer to continue in the Government as Minister for attending Cabinet."
What a shame she didn't feel able to write it last night.
By resigning today she shows herself as unprincipled; she would probably have kept backing Brown if she had been offered a cabinet post.
Suddenly, my estimation of her has risen harder.
Sorry...higher.
Whatever..!
Anyone for window dressing?
Iain, I think you should run a competition to see which Labour celebs Gordon can ennoble and bring into Government. I'll start the bidding with Tony Robinson (Baldrick, Time Team)for Culture, Media and Spot.
Dim recollection that Mick Hucknall (amazingly wealthy singer?) also Labour. What do you reckon? Also DCMS would fit but Work and Pensions might suit.
Ms Flint just might have been effective, lets recall more than half the voters in the UK are womnen. If your Labour backbencher do you want to justify that your Leader could be sexist against women. On other hand all Labour MPs might be in the bunker, aka 1945, they might want to follow the example of Rt Hon Mr M Foot and go down to a massive defeat.
Caroline Flint: the very definition of the word
Butthurt. Her entitlement and unwarranted self-importance shine through.
Does she really think that whining like this will do her any good? Does she think that waving her entitlement in people's faces will impress them? Does she think that practically saying the words "I tried to blackmail Broon but he wouldn't give me what I wanted so I'm quitting" will actually endear her to the voting public?
I'm as pleased as punch to see Broon's cabinet dissolve and I'm happy that Flint has put a knife in his back but if she really believes that she'll have a future after this, she's deluded. She's shown that she's a careerist and that her "principles" come with a price tag attached. Much like Broon himself, come to think on it.
mamma mia...what a shambles...
Oh well, at least La Flint has explained the mystery of why Her Majesty was not invited to the D-day bash.
Oh, I get it. She stands by her Prime Minister one night, and couldn't hack the fact that she didn't get promoted the next - so then cries 'discrimination' and storms off in a huff.
This is like a soap opera. At least Hazel Blears went before the reshuffle. Flint has just made herself look stupid - a bit like Clare Short did over Iraq.
Still, the next time (presumably early next week) Brown calls cabinet ministers late at night to demand public professions of loyalty on pain of losing their jobs, they might have the sense to tell him to piss off.
I cannot find any sympathy for this shallow lady, within the last 12 hours she has demonstrated that greed for power and position is the strongest urge in a Labour politician.
Last night she was wheeled out to tell the World what a wonderful guy Gordon was, the carrot for this fulsome and eloquent endorsement was a seat in the Cabinet.
It was but only a promise and everyone knows Labour do not keep theirs. Welcome to the club Caroline, like all of us who have suffered at the hands of Labour you now know what it is to be "screwed" without having enjoyed the pleasure of intercourse.
I wouldn't be surprised if Brown parachutes in Susan Boyle as a peer and mental health issues czar. She was in a reality show and has the necessary personal experience, so why not?
And don't forget Lord Bloody Sugar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxi6QDwQyLU
Iain great radio show today enjoyed it very much.
Ms Flints resignation would have been more substantial had she done it last night not after discovering gordo didnt want her in the cabinet.
What monumental achievements is she talking about?
Every aspect of British life has changed under New Labour but not, I hasten to add, for the better. They've failed us at every turn Caroline and none moreso than Mr Brown himself.
We're £600 billion in debt thanks to this government's borrowing and there's no getting away from the hardships we now face so please remind me again of Mr Brown's achievements.
The frightening thing is that Flint and Brown are exactly the same people as they were a week ago - it's just that their personal spite and spleen is now public.
They deserve each other, but we deserve neither.
Flint said in her letter: "It has been apparent for some time that you do not see me playing a more influential role in the Government. Therefore, I have respectfully declined your offer to continue in the Government as Minister for attending Cabinet."
TRANSLATION: It's clear you're not going to promote me, so you can piss off. I'm leaving the Government.
Acadman says "She only has to open that coarse and abrasive mouth to immediately shrink your libido to nothing."
Or if not shrunk, then chewed off ! Those spaces between her teeth really worry me ....
Alan Douglas
@Trevorsden
when I saw that pic I was reminded instantly of the cover of The Damned's superb album 'Phantasmagoria'.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TiGcteoUXNw/R7nG8C9UetI/AAAAAAAAAD4/DKswqHZ_sA8/s320/The%2BDamned%2B-%2BPhantasmagoria.jpg
Mandy for Leader now
Maybe true but lets face it, she was, like other Labour ministers, just crap. They all deserve each other!
Sorry, but Ms Flint has betrayed the fact that she is only resigning because she didn't get a better job.
She backed GB yesterday in hope and resigns today with those hopes dashed, throwing a hissy fit on the way out.
Pathetic.
Does anyone have a link to an archive of the press conference?
What do I think? I think I'd like to give her one.
Great, now that means that when I move out of the LSC the Prince of Darkness is going to be my new uber boss.
Is it too late to get in on the ground floor of disgruntled renaming of the new D-BIS?
I'm initially going with Department of Bastards, Idiots and Sychophants. That just about covers everyone.
@dirty old man
I hope this isn't going to descend into a Guido-esque filth-fest in which commenters decide to talk about Flint's pussy and what they'd like to do to it.
wv: trani (stop it, please...)
I notice Alan Zuckerstein signed a contract to supply the government with new PCs a month ago
In my current role, you advised that I would attend Cabinet when Europe was on the agenda. I have only been invited once since October and not to a single political Cabinet - not even the one held a few weeks before the European elections.
So this how important they thought their Europe Minister was? No wonder Flint threw her toys out of the pram.
If this is an insight on how HMG does "Europe" business it could do with some critical scrutiny.
"Dear Gordon
You're a lying bastard
Love
Elvira
I've just found James Purnell, he's on this track at 1.04 - hitting those skins for all he's worth....
Guys, if you put them all in Star Wars costumes then it all starts to make sense honesty.
@Domesday, 7.39 pm
'Culture, Media and Spot'
You must be thinking of the Dog Lovers' Party. I think you will find that Jeremy Thorpe has died.
Is there anyone left in the government who has actually been elected? Gordon seems to create lords and ladies at a whim on who ever so pleaseth him, is this really democracy in action? not forgrtting that Gordon himself is unelected.
As others have said, she was clearly of the opinion that with other high profile cabinet ministers resigning, she would be a definite consideration for a top post. Thus the enthusiastic defence of the Prime Minister last night on Sky News. She put on her best 'stroppy face' and appeared very angry at the criticism of GB.
Less than 24 hours later, a complete about face with her resignation letter.
She has done what so many of NuLabour's over-promoted and under-qualified women in politics eventually resort to : Playing the gender card.
So full of her own self-worth, she believes she couldn't possibly be held back because of a lack of talent. It MUST be because she is a woman. Good riddance.
There is a lesson here in appointing people ONLY on the basis of ability, not because thay tick the right boxes on some diversity check-list.
What a snake....yes Gordon I support you and would be proud to serve under you the next your a pervy woman hater.....bloody good looking lady though all the same.
I'm really angry at Caroline Flint. As if the Labour Party would sit her by a window and make her make speeches!
Accept here, of course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgqVTQ35T3w
And here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8_MZvBvdHY
And here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcCN5vVF-4Y
And here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcCN5vVF-4Y
And here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmOSrzmXCdw
It's always a pleasure to watch the fragrant Ms Flint, of course (sound down).
As much I despise Brown, I cannot stand Caroline Flint. Swearing loyalty one moment, plunging the knife the next, Brown is probably thinking 'Good riddance.'
Now that is a very interesting and revealing letter. The salient point, as I see it, is Ms Flint's very astute observation that "You have a two tier Government. Your inner circle and then the remainder of Cabinet"
Well, quite.
But then she misses the point entirely, by thinking that this "inner circle" is some sort of sexist, anti-female agenda, or merely an inner circle of Brown's little chums, and that she's only not part of it because she's a woman. Oh no, you couldn't be more wrong! there's an inner circle alright, but it's not of Brown's making. He simply inherited it from Blair.
Didn't you spot it, Ms Flint, in the way that neither Brown nor Prescott were ever reshuffled by Blair, from their respective roles as Chancellor and Deputy? Didn't that ever strike you as just a tad odd?
And if not, then didn't you finally spot it, Ms Flint, during the "Prescott scandals" of Spring 2006, when JP remained resolutely and firmly in place, managing to ride out the sort of scandals that would have easily unseated one of Major's ministers in the mid 1990's? Didn't that start the alarm bells ringing? Didn't you wonder why Blair wouldn't sack him but that it seemed almost imperative that he remained in place, regardless of the outcry?
And as for Brown's uncontested, in fact almost "taken for granted" succession from Blair to the role of PM? Didn't you spot it even then? Didn't you start to connect these events?
The real driving force of New Labour indeed consists of an exclusive "inner circle" within the Cabinet, but it's got nothing to do with sexism or a "bunch of old school chums". I totally believe Gordon Brown when he says he has a "job to finish". The real question is, what is it?
Come on, Flint, you've got an axe to grind and you're firmly on the outside now, knowing you'll never be "in". What's more, you have obviously felt acutely that sense of excludedness right up close. So spill some beans. Expand, enlarge, elaborate.
Come on, haven't you people ever seen a Prime Minister brought down by his own sexism?
Actually, nobody has. Ever.
This is only going to get more interesting.
A party that believes in all-women shortlists believes, by definition, in female window dressing.
Bloody hell you're a bunch of sexist bastards, aren't you! Why is it a case of "woman scorned" when a woman makes public something that is both petty and irksome and bad for the party? It's well known that Brown is a bully and does have an inner circle and that, indeed, hell hath no fury like a Gordon scorned. Shame on you all for your horrible, inappropriate, puerile sad sack comments. @acadman in particular, one can only wonder at your mental state if a woman's voice can shrink your libido like that. What a small man you must be.
Maia, had Caroline Flint resigned 24 hours earlier she could have argued it was the principled thing to do; Brown had become an electoral liability for her party so (even though it meant losing her job) she was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.
But she didn't do that; she hung on to see whether she could pick up a good job that one of her "principled" colleagues (some of whom are women) had sacrificed. When she didn't get one, she was angry and disappointed and then stuck the knife in.
She would have been quite happy to work for Brown had he given her a decent job, as he didn't he automatically became beyond the pale and an electoral liabilty.
It is hard to now respect Caroline Flint so - yes - she's getting some well deserved banter. Blogs do that sort of thing.
Flint and Blears have been quite happy to pour out rivers of disingenuous political clap trap for years. Their loyalty has been to Party and not Country. How many times have they turned up on shows and pretty much ignored the questions and pressed "PLAY".
Good riddance.
Perhaps these daft WAG women prove that politics is no place for women. Hormones was it? Bring back SuperMac I say.
Post a Comment