Esther McVey planning crackdown on civil service diversity initiatives

So-called minister for common sense says she wants to ban wearing of rainbow lanyards among other measures

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Esther McVey, the “minister for common sense”, has said she will crack down on diversity initiatives in the civil service, including banning the wearing of rainbow lanyards.

McVey, who was appointed to Rishi Sunak’s cabinet as a minister without portfolio, said civil servants should be leaving their political views “at the building entrance” and that there should not be a “random pick and mix” of causes on security lanyards.