Still A Good Question

"Why does a government which calls itself Conservative even have a Minister for Women and Equalities? The post was invented by the Blair creature and first held by Harriet Harman, that apostle of social and sexual revolution," writes Peter Hitchens.

Before then, Harman had been the Secretary of State for Social Security who, as early in the Blair years as 10th December 1997, had cut lone parent benefits on the votes of the Conservatives, since even with the Government's enormous majority, enough Labour MPs had voted against the measure for it to have been defeated if the Official Opposition had also done so.

"The tax and benefits system, and the attitudes of all parts of the state, will help almost any form of childcare – except the one where a parent stays at home to do it and the family has to cope on a single income," writes Hitchens. A quarter of a century ago, the late Audrey Wise MP, who would have worn the "Hard Left" label as a badge of honour and no doubt did, told the House of Commons:

"I asked the Under-Secretary of State for Social Security, my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Withington (Mr. Bradley), who made the uprating statement, why child care is work when it is done by a stranger but not when it is done by the child's mother or father. Any reference to Hansard will show that I did not receive one syllable of an answer. It is a good question. I am a mother of two children. I remember their early years vividly and I would not have been agreeable to farming them out to a stranger. It was not my way. Some people may be able to find excellent child care and may have interesting jobs or jobs for which much has been invested in training. Even if they have a small child, it makes sense for them to go to work. I do not criticise that at all, but I do criticise the attitude that all parents of small children should be willing to work, leaving their children with someone else while they clean offices or fill shelves."

Why is childcare work when it is done by a stranger, but not when it is done by the child's mother or father? There has still never been one syllable of an answer. But it was a good question then. And it is a good question now.