There can be few people who better understand that Parliament is a
“gentleman’s club” than Caroline Flint. The Minister for Europe gets more
comments about the colour of her lipstick than her views on the Lisbon
treaty.
With her slit skirts and her peep-toe stilettos, the original Blair Babe does
not fit the stereotype of an MP. Along with her friend Hazel Blears, she is
a member of a Commons dance troupe called the Division Belles. She prefers
Nigella Lawson to Delia Smith and the Eurovision Song Contest to the Proms.
Whereas many politicians hire their wives as secretaries, Miss Flint employs
her husband, Phil, to run her office — a few years ago she even sent a
proposal of marriage to him by fax.
“I don’t want to be a pin-up but I hope I don’t have to cover myself in a sack
in order to be taken seriously as a politician,” she says. “I feel almost
relieved that Ed Miliband has beaten me in the sexiest MP survey. I can sit
back and relax now that he’s top of the list.”
Politically, however, there is no time to rest. Miss Flint is responsible for
next month’s European elections — in which Labour is tipped for a thrashing
after the revelations about MPs’ expenses. The Europe Minister admits that,
although all parties are suffering, “the Government of the day is going to
take a hit” over the bath plugs and the moats, as well as the recession.
“Obviously it’s terrible at the moment and people are really angry. We’ve
announced changes to the system and inquiries but that’s not enough.” The
resignation of Michael Martin as Speaker is, she believes, only the first
step of a wide process of reform.
From the moment that she arrived as a 35-year-old mother of three in 1997, she
has felt that the House of Commons was out of date. “It was Victorian,” says
Miss Flint, now 47. “The whole place was based on the idea that men would
become MPs, and they would have a wife running around doing their shirts and
looking after the children while they got on with the important business of
politics.”
The late-night sittings put a terrible pressure on families. “There were
stories about MPs getting divorced, the work-life balance was an issue not
just for women but also for a younger generation of men who wanted to spend
more time with their kids.”
Although more family-friendly hours have been introduced, she says:
“Modernisation is a work in progress — some things have changed but not
enough. There’s all the flummery, the men in tights, that’s part of the
tourist attraction side of the House of Commons. I get less worried about
what someone is wearing than I do about how you are enabled to do your job.”
For some MPs, it seems, floating duck houses, glitter loo seats and
flat-screen TVs were essential tools of the trade. Miss Flint was criticised
for claiming for stamp duty on her parliamentary expenses. In fact, she says
she was encouraged to do so by the Commons authorities. “When we notified
the fees office of our change of address they said, ‘Have you claimed for
the stamp duty?’. We weren’t aware of it but they said, ‘Put something in
and we will tell you what you can have’.”
She will not say whether she thinks that any MPs should stand down. “Every
individual is going to have to explain themselves. It’s not my job to be
judge and jury.” Although she has been shocked by some of the revelations,
she worries that all politicians are being tarred with the same brush.
“There are some claims that seem rather luxurious. There are questions about
whether people got money for things they didn’t pay for. We need to put it
to an independent review, where nobody is trying to score points.”
Miss Flint now has one of the best offices in Whitehall, with floor-to-ceiling
windows overlooking Horse Guards Parade. But she grew up, the daughter of a
typist, in a one-room flat — her mother died of alcohol-related liver
problems at 45. She worries that reforming MPs’ pay and allowances in the
wrong way would make it harder for people like her to go into politics. “All
I hope is that we don’t replace one gentlemen’s club with another
gentlemen’s club. Let’s not end up with a system full of people who don’t
spend time in their constituencies. That can’t be right. It would be back to
the future. And it would almost certainly mean more men when there aren’t
enough women in Parliament as it is.”
When her children were young, the family would shuttle between London and
Doncaster. It would, she thinks, be much harder for politicians to sustain a
marriage without financial support for a second home. “We have to ask what
we want from our MPs in 2009 . . . I couldn’t be an MP unless I had the
support of my husband — it was a juggling act all the time. We want more
people in Parliament who have a real life as well.”
There has been criticism of politicians who employ family members but Miss
Flint says she operates a sort of job share with her husband. “There are
things I can say to him that I can’t say to anybody else — it’s like a small
family business. We’ve had our moments disagreeing but we did that before I
was an MP.”
Miss Flint leaps to the defence of Hazel Blears, who has been criticised for
failing to pay capital gains tax after the sale of a flat. “She followed the
advice. Hazel hasn’t done anything wrong but she has said herself that maybe
she should have paid it and she put her hand up and paid it.”
It would, in her view, be wrong for the Prime Minister to move Miss Blears in
a reshuffle. “I think she’s doing a good job and she should continue to do
that. She’s one of the last people who would ever come into politics for
financial benefit.”
Miss Flint risks irritating No 10 by saying that Miss Blears was right to
raise concerns about the Government’s inability to get its message across,
in an article that was interpreted widely as an attack on Mr Brown. “What
Hazel said — and we sometimes need to remind ourselves — is that we do
always have to be thinking about what we are delivering, how we are
communicating it and whether we are getting it right . . . You have to deal
with bailing out the banks, and the reforms that are going to be necessary
to prevent this happening again, but we mustn’t forget that we also need to
talk about the day-to-day issues.”
Did she cringe when she saw Mr Brown’s performance on YouTube? “Gordon doesn’t
set himself up as a slick TV performer,” she replies. “Gordon has shown real
leadership in dealing with the financial crisis.”
If the polls are to be believed, the voters are less convinced about Mr Brown.
Miss Flint is worried that the BNP will benefit from the anti-politics mood
in the European elections. “They have tried to present themselves as
community politicians but they are wolves in sheeps’ clothing.”
She thinks that independent candidates are overrated. “It’s one thing for
people to stand on a single issue, but what else do they stand for? Politics
is about people’s lives. How is the economy run? What are your plans for
schools?”
If Labour does badly in the European elections, there will be fresh
speculation about the leadership. The Blairite Miss Flint insists that Mr
Brown is the “best person” for the top job. “He will lead us into the next
general election and we as ministers have to support him and do the best we
can.” But she warns that Labour must not veer to the left. “We have to be a
party that applies our values but recognises that public services have to
reform to the way people want to use them . . . The decision to introduce a
50 per cent top rate of tax was about doing something fair. It’s not cast in
concrete.”
The Government, she says, needs to reach out to voters in different ways,
speaking to women’s magazines as well as Newsnight. Women, she
thinks, find it easier to step outside the Westminster bubble. “When I’m
shopping in the supermarket or stuck at A&E because one of my kids has
had an accident — doing real things that other people do — it helps you do
that.”
There is in her view another difference between the men and women in the
Commons. “I never take for granted that people think I’m an MP. Sometimes I
answer the phone and pretend I’m my own secretary. I’m not interested in
status — if you’ve never had people showing deference because you’re not
important or wealthy then you don’t expect it.”
Women are, she says, changing the atmosphere at Westminster, but there are
ways in which it is still a “gentlemen’s club”. “There are double standards
applied to women. You get berated for your appearance if you look too
frumpy; you get berated if you try to present yourself well. We will only
have real equality when I can enjoy being a woman and a politician too.”
Quickfire
Top Shop or Prada? Top Shop
Pretty Woman or Billy Elliot? Billy Elliot
Nigella Lawson or Delia Smith? Nigella Lawson
Guacamole or mushy peas? Mushy peas but only if I can have the fish and
chips to go with them
Eurovision Song Contest or the Proms? Eurovision Song Contest
Cinema or theatre? Cinema, I once saw six films on one day
Stilettos or wedges? Stilettos
CV
Born September 20, 1961, in London
Education Twickenham County School for Girls; University of East Anglia
(BA American literature/history with film studies)
Career Local government officer; political and research officer at GMB
union; MP for Don Valley since 1997; junior Home Office Minister 2003-05;
Public Health Minister 2005-07, Minister for Employment 2007-08; Housing
Minister attending Cabinet, January to October 2008, when she was appointed
Minister for Europe
Family married to Phil Cole, three children
