Steerpike | 21 February 2013

Dave’s a listener. He listens to women in particular. That’s the sub-text of his recent disclosure that Sam keeps urging him to promote more women to the Cabinet. Yet Dave’s top table boasts just four leading ladies. And at his last reshuffle he replaced ousted females with men. ‘He’s listening all right,’ says a junior minister, ‘with both fingers stuffed in his ear-holes while humming and doing the complete opposite.’ A senior Tory puts it more succinctly. ‘Like the Prime Minister, I favour Cabinet equality,’ he says, ‘but we’re still about half a dozen birds short of a lap-dancing club.’

Vicars of Christ! Since Benedict XVI decided to hand back the keys to the Popemobile, right-wing Catholic hacks have been reminding everyone that the bishops of England and Wales will have no influence over the choice of his successor. Archbishop Vincent Nichols still hasn’t been made a cardinal and will play no part in the conclave.