Gordon's Angels Get the Silent Treatment
Dawn Primarolo and Ruth Kelly waited to take their turn. And they waited, and waited and waited...
At 11.35am yesterday Gordon's Angels sat on the government front bench ready to do battle with all who dared question the Treasury's handling of the economy.
Dawn Primarolo and Ruth Kelly, paymaster general and economic secretary, waited alongside Gordon Brown, Andrew Smith and Paul Boateng to take their turn. And they waited, and waited and waited...
Women Labourites embraced the chancellor as an honorary sister when he ended centuries of male domination in one of Whitehall's stuffiest departments by appointing more than a token female.
At one point he had three women in his team; Ms Primarolo and Ms Kelly still give female MPs some 40%, two-fifths, of the Treasury posts.
Yesterday, the pair huddled together as if for safety, Ms Kelly holding a standard-issue, civil service red A4 folder, Ms Primarolo clutching an untidy pile of notes.
First up was Mr Smith, Treasury chief secretary, to insist, improbably, that rail services are getting better and a potential £9bn bill for taxpayers was a harmless "contingent liability".
Mr Boateng jumped in next with questions two and three as Labour MP Colin Challen, amid much macho finger-pointing at Tories, boasted Britain had the "greatest wind energy resources" in Europe.
No idle boast, even if the financial secretary's jest that Mr Challen "was a breath of fresh air" had them groaning in the aisles. Until, that is, Lynne Jones trumped the dull cries with real anguish by declaring she wanted to "make him sunny" and fit solar panels to every home.
So far, so bad. Mr Smith and Mr Boateng were warm-up men for the main act, Mr Brown, who seized question four to accuse Tories of plotting the destruction of the NHS, after Labour's spin machine helpfully leaked a tape to yesterday's Mirror of unguarded comments by Dr Death, the shadow health spokesman Liam Fox.
The chancellor shouted louder and louder until Michael Martin's abrupt "order, order". The Speaker had dared cut Labour's finest off in mid-rant for criticising the Tories instead of answering questions!
Mr Brown glared. Mr Martin called Nigel Beard, another Labour MP. He attacked the Tories. "Order, order" again and Mr Beard was back in his box. Mr Brown glowered.
John McFall, the Labour chairman of the Treasury committee, was on his feet. Before he got the words "the Tories" out of his mouth, another "order, order" had him on his backside. Mr Brown was close to combusting. Three strikes and they were out.
"I need questions to the chancellor of the exchequer, not the shadow chancellor of the exchequer," the Speaker pleaded.
At 12.20pm, with just nine minutes of question time left, the two female ministers had yet to speak in public.
The clock ticked to 12.21pm. Question nine. At last Ms Kelly's mouth was opening and making a sound, extolling the success of some government policy or other. A start. Two brief contributions and three minutes later, she was back on the green bench.
It was now 12.24pm and Ms Primarolo saw her chance, leaping in to tell MPs to wait until Wednesday to find out what is in the Budget, but the NHS would be destroyed by the Tories...
"Order, order" came the now repetitive cry and, after two minutes, the curtain was brought down on Ms Primarolo. By 12.30pm it was all over, with the three men hogging 50 minutes against two minutes for the women ministers. Equality takes many forms.
Dawn Primarolo and Ruth Kelly, paymaster general and economic secretary, waited alongside Gordon Brown, Andrew Smith and Paul Boateng to take their turn. And they waited, and waited and waited...
Women Labourites embraced the chancellor as an honorary sister when he ended centuries of male domination in one of Whitehall's stuffiest departments by appointing more than a token female.
At one point he had three women in his team; Ms Primarolo and Ms Kelly still give female MPs some 40%, two-fifths, of the Treasury posts.
Yesterday, the pair huddled together as if for safety, Ms Kelly holding a standard-issue, civil service red A4 folder, Ms Primarolo clutching an untidy pile of notes.
First up was Mr Smith, Treasury chief secretary, to insist, improbably, that rail services are getting better and a potential £9bn bill for taxpayers was a harmless "contingent liability".
Mr Boateng jumped in next with questions two and three as Labour MP Colin Challen, amid much macho finger-pointing at Tories, boasted Britain had the "greatest wind energy resources" in Europe.
No idle boast, even if the financial secretary's jest that Mr Challen "was a breath of fresh air" had them groaning in the aisles. Until, that is, Lynne Jones trumped the dull cries with real anguish by declaring she wanted to "make him sunny" and fit solar panels to every home.
So far, so bad. Mr Smith and Mr Boateng were warm-up men for the main act, Mr Brown, who seized question four to accuse Tories of plotting the destruction of the NHS, after Labour's spin machine helpfully leaked a tape to yesterday's Mirror of unguarded comments by Dr Death, the shadow health spokesman Liam Fox.
The chancellor shouted louder and louder until Michael Martin's abrupt "order, order". The Speaker had dared cut Labour's finest off in mid-rant for criticising the Tories instead of answering questions!
Mr Brown glared. Mr Martin called Nigel Beard, another Labour MP. He attacked the Tories. "Order, order" again and Mr Beard was back in his box. Mr Brown glowered.
John McFall, the Labour chairman of the Treasury committee, was on his feet. Before he got the words "the Tories" out of his mouth, another "order, order" had him on his backside. Mr Brown was close to combusting. Three strikes and they were out.
"I need questions to the chancellor of the exchequer, not the shadow chancellor of the exchequer," the Speaker pleaded.
At 12.20pm, with just nine minutes of question time left, the two female ministers had yet to speak in public.
The clock ticked to 12.21pm. Question nine. At last Ms Kelly's mouth was opening and making a sound, extolling the success of some government policy or other. A start. Two brief contributions and three minutes later, she was back on the green bench.
It was now 12.24pm and Ms Primarolo saw her chance, leaping in to tell MPs to wait until Wednesday to find out what is in the Budget, but the NHS would be destroyed by the Tories...
"Order, order" came the now repetitive cry and, after two minutes, the curtain was brought down on Ms Primarolo. By 12.30pm it was all over, with the three men hogging 50 minutes against two minutes for the women ministers. Equality takes many forms.
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