Time to end the dominance of DEI
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Esther McVey, who has the unofficial title of Minister for Common Sense, has lived up to her name by proposing a crackdown on “woke” spending. She wrote in the Telegraph that the Civil Service will not be allowed to hire any new staff dedicated to promoting diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI).
The aim is to end the “back-door politicisation” of Whitehall. Managers will be forbidden from hiring third-party DEI contractors and officials whose jobs are currently focused solely on diversity will be transferred into HR teams and given broader remits.
Ms McVey, a Cabinet office minister, says the public sector must not become a “pointless job creation scheme for the politically correct”. The amount of staff time devoted to diversity and inclusion schemes was a “major concern”.
Her words and intent will be welcomed by all but a handful of zealot campaigners who have managed to hijack this issue.
But they raise a host of questions. Why has this been allowed to develop on the Conservative party’s watch over the past 14 years? Why, too, is it restricted to new recruits? Those currently in DEI posts will continue to demand subservience to woke nostrums otherwise they will be doing themselves out of a job.
The problem with these appointments is that they are self-perpetuating. Once such units are established they have a vested interest in survival. As the minister said: “We have some employees in the public sector whose only role is to ensure that departments are meeting diversity targets.” This should never have been allowed to happen. Is this what people expect their taxes to be spent on?
Ms McVey’s proscription should not stop at Whitehall, either. What about the rest of the public sector, which is equally infected, or the corporate world, also in thrall to this pernicious doctrine? The tide is finally being pushed back but it has taken a long time, arguably too long.
