Carol Vorderman has called for the women’s minister to quit after she couldn’t ‘be bothered to turn up’ to a menopause committee meeting – but the lawmaker has accused the TV presenter of not dealing in facts.
Maria Caulfield rushed to Twitter a day after the Women and Equalities Committee meeting to explain she couldn’t make it because she was with campaigners at a meeting “that had been in the diary for months.”
The MP, who is also the minister for women’s health policy, tweeted that she was “not a punch bag” and that anybody who posted “misleading information” about her on social media would be banned.
Vorderman, a former Countdown star, tweeted a screenshot revealing she had been banned by the Government official, writing: ‘Maria, show some respect & RESIGN.’
When challenged by another Twitter user about blocking Vorderman, Ms Caulfield replied: ‘She hasn’t pointed out facts. I couldn’t attend yesterday as I was seeing women campaigners against painful hysteroscopy which had been in the diary for months.
‘I have given alternative dates to the committee and they are the facts.’
The committee said it had invited Ms Caulfield to appear before members to discuss the Government’s plans for action on menopause in the workplace ‘but the minister refused the invitation’.
Vorderman had earlier said she was ‘absolutely disgusted’ by the words and actions of two Government ministers, including Ms Caulfield, as the television presenter appeared before MPs herself to discuss menopause and the workplace.
It is understood the committee received a response from the minister on the dates she was available only after the letter they wrote to her, dated March 10, was posted on Twitter on March 17.
The committee is believed to have contacted her a number of times before that to get a date agreed for a hearing.
She hasn’t pointed out facts . I couldn’t attend yesterday as I was seeing women campaigners against painful hysteroscopy which had been in the diary for months. I have given alternative dates to the committee and they are the facts.
— Maria Caulfield MP (@mariacaulfield) March 23, 2023
Ms Caulfield is due to appear for a hearing in June, according to committee chairperson Caroline Nokes, who confirmed this at the end of Wednesday’s session.
Earlier in the session, both Vorderman and colleague presenter Mariella Frostrup expressed their displeasure at Ms Caulfield’s failure to “bother to turn up.”
Vorderman stated that she saw Ms Caulfield ‘drinking a cup of tea’ that day at Portcullis House, adding, ‘that’s not much of an example, is it?’
Frostrup told MPs that the present situation regarding menopause and women’s rights in the workplace felt like ‘treading water which is only heightened by the fact that the minister can’t be bothered to turn up’.
Labour demanded that Ms Caulfield apologise for missing the committee session, but Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt refused, citing the minister’s prior obligation.
She told business questions in the chamber: ‘It is deeply ironic, especially in the wake of International Women’s Day when we all used hashtag ‘#AskHerToStand’ and want to support working women, that we are so quick to paint an incorrect picture about our female colleagues in this place. I think it is shocking.’
‘She does not need to apologise in any manner to individuals in this House,’ Ms Mordaunt remarked.
Source My Celebrity Life.