Labour Chair Accuses Tories Of Being Fixated On "Lanyards And Toilet Tsars"

Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds has said ordinary voters “don’t care” about which lanyards people are wearing, accusing the Conservative government of being “fixated” on culture wars.

Last month, The Telegraph reported that the government was planning to ban the hiring of new staff in the civil service dedicated to boosting diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI). Cabinet Office minister Esther McVey said she thought the civil service was becoming distracted by “woke hobby horses”.

She also warned civil servants not to express political views “by the back door” by wearing rainbow lanyards in support of LGBTQ+ rights – though subsequent Cabinet Office guidance did not make specific reference to lanyards themselves and instead generally instructed civil servants to maintain their “political impartiality”.

In an interview with PoliticsHome, Dodds suggested Labour would not follow the Tories’ example of cutting down on diversity and inclusion as a priority for the civil service and public sector, and stressed Labour’s attention would be focused elsewhere if elected to government on 4 July.

“We've literally got schools crumbling around our children's ears at the moment. Instead, [the government] seems to fixate on whether some civil servants are wearing a particular lanyard or not,” said the Labour Chair, who is also Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities.

“Labour is prioritising national security, the Conservatives are prioritising lanyards and toilet tsars.

“What we've seen so far is a government that's fixated on matters that most ordinary people are not bothered about. They don't care about which lanyards people are wearing. They do care about having a civil service that serves the country with a government