'What do I have to do?' Mensch rails against lack of promotion
Tuesday, 3 January 2012 10:26 AM
By Ian Dunt Follow @IanDunt
Louise Mensch has railed against her lack of promotion, telling GQ magazine that she cannot understand why she has not been elevated off the backbenches.
In an interview which sparked controversy for its glamorous photo shoot, Ms Mensch insists she would like a position in the Department for International Development or a role setting up a Veterans' Administration Department.
"I’m not even a PPS [parliamentary private secretary]," she told the magazine.
"It’s kind of annoying. What do I have to do to get promoted over here? Am I being disloyal? I don’t know.
"I need to sit down with my whip and say 'what do I have to do?'" she continued.
"Every time there is a raft of PPS promotions and my name is not on them, I have to sit down and think ‘what am I doing wrong?’
"I would very much like to have a crack at international development. The other major issue that I have is I want to see a Veterans Administration Department. The services available to veterans are not properly co-ordinated and I think it is a crying shame".
Asked whether she would rather have one of her books win the Booker prize or take a Cabinet role, the chick-lit author said she would rather enter Cabinet
"But if they gave me a choice between having a movie made [out of one of her books] and being a Cabinet minister, I’d take having the movie made," she added.
The admission of her exasperation at being overlooked for a front bench role provides more evidence of increased disgruntlement among David Cameron's increasingly rebellious 2010 intake of Tory MPs.
With a set number of Cabinet jobs going to Liberal Democrats, many young Conservatives feel their future ambitions are limited and are more prone to Commons rebellions as a result, not least of all during the now-famous 81-strong rebellion over the EU.
But much of the online reaction to the interview centred on Ms Mensch's appearance in the photo shoot, in which she wore a £485 Dolce and Gabbana skirt and a £271 silk blouse by L'Agence.
While the 40-year-old refused to wear anything skimpy some complained that the presence of the shoot detracted from points she made about the difficulty attractive women find getting weighty government roles.
"Everything I had said was washed away under the fluffy-bunny thing of looks. It is Theresa May’s kitten heels all over again," she told the magazine.
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