Tory ministers shouldn’t fall for these purity tests

Liz Truss’s ministers had not even got their feet beneath the cabinet table before they were treated to a barrage of objections to their appointments. Talk about playing the man rather than the ball. No sooner had Jacob Rees-Mogg been appointed business secretary than Caroline Lucas was declaring him unfit for the position because he has previously expressed sceptical views on climate change. She didn’t even wait to learn that Rees-Mogg will not, in contrast to his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng, also hold the climate brief, which has gone to Graham Stuart. Meanwhile, Clare Murphy of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service lashed out at Therese Coffey’s appointment on the grounds that Ms Coffey committed the dastardly sin of voting against the extension of making abortion pills available through the post – a temporary measure during the pandemic. ‘We need a health secretary who wants to improve access to a medical procedure that one in three women will need in their lifetime, not impose further restriction,’ said Murphy.