“You have a two-tier government, your inner circle and then the remainder of cabinet,” Europe Minister Caroline Flint said in a letter to British premier Gordon Brown, hours after he ignored her for promotion on Friday.
“Several of the women attending cabinet — myself included — have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing,” added Flint, who had declared fierce loyalty to Brown on Thursday night.
She announced her move just as the beleaguered leader faced cameras in a live press conference following a cabinet reshuffle prompted by rebel ministerial resignations aimed at forcing Brown to step down.
The pro-Labour The Guardian newspaper, frontpaging a much-reproduced photograph of Flint in a short red dress and red stilettos reclining on a sofa, said on Saturday Brown “has never been a great admirer of Flint’s political abilities”. “Downing Street’s views of Flint was reinforced last month when she posed for a series of model-style shots in Observer Woman magazine” — a sister publication of The Guardian.
“Figures close to Brown were irritated that Flint was finding time to pose for the cameras while they felt she had yet to master the highly intricate details of her brief as Europe minister,” it said.
Flint, 47, is described as one of Britain’s sexiest politicians.
The Daily Mail said on Saturday: “Last year, the Europe minister pulled off the impressive feat of stealing the Budget Day headlines from the Chancellor by strolling up Downing Street in a skirt split to the thigh.
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