BBC Question Time audience laughs as Esther McVey is forced to defend her appointment as ‘Minister for Common Sense’ with host Fiona Bruce swiping Tory MP’s new job suggests other Cabinet members ‘don’t have enough common sense’

Esther McVey has been forced to defend her appointment as ‘Minister for Common Sense’ after her new job role was mocked on the BBC’s Question Time.

The Tory MP was drafted back into the Cabinet last month as part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle.

She was officially appointed as a ‘Minister without Portfolio’ in the Cabinet Office. 

But No10 sources suggested the 56-year-old Liverpudlian would likely be known as ‘common sense minister’ and would ‘stand up for working people’.

The Tatton MP is also expected to focus on combating Whitehall ‘wokery’ in her new job.

Appearing on Question Time, Ms McVey was quizzed by host Fiona Bruce as to whether her role suggested other Cabinet ministers ‘don’t have enough common sense’.

Esther McVey was forced to defend her appointment as ‘Minister for Common Sense’ after her new job role was mocked on the BBC’s Question Time.

Ms McVey was quizzed by host Fiona Bruce as to whether her role suggested other Cabinet ministers ‘don’t have enough common sense’

The exchange was prompted by a question from an audience member who asked: ‘I just wondered whether it tells us something that the Tory party need a Minister for Common Sense?’

‘It seems in the media I was dubbed the ‘Minister for Common Sense’,’ Ms McVey replied, after enduring widespread laughter at the question.

She also described how her role ‘is about scrutiny, it is about oversight, it is making sure there is delivery for money’.

The Cabinet minister noted how Ken Clarke and Peter Mandelson had both been ministers without portfolio in past governments.

But, pressed as to whether it was ‘inaccurate’ to describe her as ‘Minister for Common Sense’, Ms McVey dodged the question.

She pointed to Mr Sunak’s watering down of Britain’s Net Zero commitments, and the PM’s scrapping of the HS2 rail line – with the cash diverted to local transport projects instead – as examples of ‘common sense’.

Prompting further laughter from the audience, she was then asked: ‘Now you are Minister for Common Sense, is that suggesting the ministers that are already doing their jobs in the various parts of Cabinet, they don’t have enough common sense?

‘So you’ve got to come in and display more common sense? Literally how does it work?’ 

‘They do have common sense, absolutely,’ Ms McVey replied.

Bruce then interjected:  ‘But not quite enough?’, to which McVey added: ‘It is bringing in a scrutiny.’

‘Peter Mandelson held the role for Labour. You had Ken Clarke.’

She continued: ‘Do politicians listen to what people need? Are they looking at those Net Zero targets?

‘Actually, should we have delayed them because the infrastructure wasn’t there? People would have been pushed into poverty.

‘It is working on behalf of the people to bring pragmatism into politics.’

The comedian Zoe Lyons, also appearing on the Question Time panel, suggested it was ‘irksome’ to have a ‘Minister of Common Sense’.

‘All I can imagine in my head is that your office is next to the minister for funny walks. It’s on that sort of level,’ she added.

Ms McVey was drafted back into the Cabinet last month as part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle

Ms McVey ran to be Tory leader in 2019, after Theresa May announced her resignation as PM, as part of a Blue Collar Conservatives campaign

The ex-GMTV star, who married fellow Tory MP Philip Davies in 2020, has given up her job as a part-time presenter on GB News to take on her new ministerial role

Mr Sunak’s move to reappoint Ms McVey to Cabinet last month was widely seen as the PM offering an olive branch to the Tory Right, after he angered many of MPs by sacking Suella Braverman as Home Secretary.

Ms McVey, who married fellow Tory MP Philip Davies in 2020, has given up her job as a part-time presenter on GB News to take on her new ministerial role.

The ex-GMTV star has held a series of ministerial positions – including Work and Pensions Secretary under Theresa May – since becoming an MP and also served under previous PMs David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

She ran to be Tory leader in 2019, after Mrs May announced her resignation as PM, as part of a Blue Collar Conservatives campaign. 

But Ms McVey failed to make it past the first round of voting among Tory MPs.

She revived her hopes of top office in July last year, when she endorsed Jeremy Hunt in the contest to replace Mr Johnson as PM.

Ms McVey was Mr Hunt’s candidate for deputy PM, but he was defeated in the first round of parliamentary voting.

The Cabinet Office lists Ms McVey’s current responsibilities as ‘ensuring effective communication of Government priorities’.

She is also expected to support Oliver Dowden, the Deputy PM, on ‘driving delivery of Government priorities’ and ‘ensuring efficiency and value for money in Government policy’. 

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