Our thanks to Mike P for this. A quote from Ms Leadsom:

‘It would be much better if we just didn’t have to talk about diversity any more; if equality was the absolute norm.’

It would be much better if Johnson fired Leadom forthwith; if merit, rather than gender considerations, was the absolute norm. There would then be fewer women in the cabinet, not more.

The following extract is encouraging, but I won’t hold my breath:

The prime minister is understood to be resigned to suffering the embarrassment of a sharp drop in the number of female cabinet members, according to The Times.

There should be no embarrassment for him to be “resigned to suffering”. On the contrary, reducing the number of female cabinet members would be a brave and principled decision, in line with conservative values and meritocracy, because a number of the current women in the cabinet wouldn’t be there if they were men. We hope he’ll make that decision.

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