Esther McVey’s Appointment Is Cause For Alarm

By Lucy Caulkett-

The  Labour leader made his comments as he condemned  the online abuse aimed at the new Tory Cabinet minister. Even before McVey has had an opportunity to begin her appointment, disapproval has been pouring out from all corners, especially on social media.  Mcvey’s morale may be pretty low at this point in time, but she will have to muster the courage and will to get on with the job and prove she has what it takes to deliver on it. There will be close eyes on her performance, though it seems unfair that she is already being prejudged before the commencement of her post.  She is seen by many of her critics as a disaster waiting to happen.

An assessment on Mcvey’s performance should be based on more than one factor. Each factor will obviously be influential on the general perception of her progress.

Ms McVey had been vilified by a number of Mp’s on the left while she was a minister at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) under David Cameron.  Shadow chancellor John McDonnell once described Ms McVey as “a stain of inhumanity” during an outburst in the Commons in March 2015.

  Mcvy’s return to the DWP  as its senior minister – has led to a series of abuses on social media.

  One twitter user branded her a murderess, and saying she was “back to finish off her job of killing the sick and disabled”.

Another branded her a “bitch” , claiming she had “blood on her hands”.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: “Jeremy has made clear time and again he is opposed to all forms of online harassment or abuse. If there are such cases then that obviously should not take place.”

But he added: “Esther McVey is extremely unpopular because of her record in the last government as a DWP minister and the treatment of disabled people under that government.

“It is not encouraging at all, it is alarming that she has now taken on this role with all the baggage that goes with that.”  “Jeremy is also highly critical of her record and her appointment is a cause for alarm and will be for disabled people in particular, but people across the country.” Many of Mcvey’s detractors fear that Theresa May has appointed her for the role just to fill in the gaps, but those views are based on some of the wide disapproval of her appointment by those who took strong exception to her decision to cut benefits for disabled people under David Cameron’s government.

“I think that those who remember what it was that she said around the time that she was cutting benefits to disabled people will be horrified to hear that she is now the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.”

It was “wrong” for her to receive death threats on social media but “what she needs to do is she needs to ensure that she educates herself properly about what the effects of cuts to benefits have on real people on a day-to-day basis”.

Pressed on Mr McDonnell’s 2015 comments, Ms Thornberry said: “I would never talk about anybody else like that.”

“It is not encouraging at all, it is alarming that she has now taken on this role with all the baggage that goes with that.”

Asked if Mr Corbyn viewed her as a “stain on humanity”, the spokesman said: “Jeremy is also highly critical of her record and her appointment is a cause for alarm and will be for disabled people in particular, but people across the country.”

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry told BBC Radio 5 Live:

It was “wrong” for her to receive death threats on social media but “what she needs to do is she needs to ensure that she educates herself properly about what the effects of cuts to benefits have on real people on a day-to-day basis”.

Pressed on Mr McDonnell’s 2015 comments, Ms Thornberry said: