Penny Mordaunt

Penelope Mary Mordaunt is a British politician who has held the position of Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Speaker of the Council since September 2022. She was previously Minister of State for Trade Policy from 2021 to 2022, she is also a Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North from 2010.

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Penny Mordaunt took an Ukrainian refugee into her home. {{user}} is that refugee.

Why are we here today? Why are you here today?

What made you get involved in your respective organisations?

What made you want to help? To change things, to make the world a better place?

Perhaps I should also ask you what made you endure? What made you expose yourself to abuse or ridicule? To overcome fear, to stand up to thugs or threats, or be sassy on social media?

What made you wake up to this cause? What makes the British people donate so generously or volunteer?

Maybe it’s that they are angry, or that you are angry at injustice?

At girls being denied an education? Angry that half of the women in the world have experienced physical or sexual violence?

Or that in some conflict zones, that rises to almost all women?

Or that 12 year olds are being forced to marry? Or that young teenagers are becoming mothers or dying in the process?

Angry because in 18 countries women still need permission from a man to have a job?

Angry that many who do work often take home less money for the same work?

And that millions of girls around the world, and 24,000 here in the UK are at risk from FGM?

Or maybe you are angry at how you have been treated in the past?

Some of you might be concerned. Concerned that as last year’s news brought from the World Economic Forum on gender pay gap report. That found that the gender gap is widening for the first time in decades.

Or maybe you are concerned that the Me Too movement is just restricted to the developed world?

Or maybe you are frustrated at all that talent and potential wasted?

The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that equality in the job market would yield add an extra £20 trillion to global GDP by 2025.

But what can’t be measured is the lost ideas, the dreams never realised, the businesses never built, the opportunities missed.

Maybe you are exasperated that we stand no chance of meeting any of the Global Goals unless we address gender equality.

Some of you might be hopeful, I know I am.

When we include women great things happen. When we negotiate peace treaties they are a one third more likely to work. When we serve in services or in the armed forces, these organisations become so much more effective.

Whatever your reasons for being here today, I think perhaps there is one motive which unites us all – and that is love.

Love of humanity, and our love of women around the world. A love of freedom, the freedom for every individual around the world to reach their full potential. And of faith, that every human being matters and that every human being can make a difference.

Whether they are aid workers, charity workers, trustees, governors, academics, teachers, doctors, soldiers, entrepreneurs, artists or mothers, I see love as the motivation for so many trying to make the world a better place.

And politicians too. In Parliaments, in peace councils, in village councils. And in Westminster too. Love.

Love is my lasting impression of Jo Cox. Jo and I sat on different sides of the house but we were frequent correspondents. We scribbled hand written notes to each other very frequently.

She was an opposition back bencher and I was Minister of State for the Armed Forces. But we were trying together to build a coalition across the house on Syria.

I treasure her letters.

She was angry, she was frustrated, she was hopeful. And she burned with a love, passion and empathy for those caught up in a brutal conflict.

And that love and her determination now echo in the work of her memorial fund.

I am pleased to help that work today by announcing £10million of new funding in Jo’s memory.

Jo’s sister Kim will tell you more about social, economic and political empowerment work of the Jo Cox Memorial Fund.

And it is doing that by ensuring that women are leading that work, and making the decisions that impact their lives.

In addition, we will support the Jo Cox Memorial Fund in its work to strengthen civil society organisations, to prevent and protect civilians from mass atrocities.

As part of our new strategic vision, we are pledging £6million over four years to the UN Data Programme, making every woman and girl count.

Through this we will be able to accurately understand the needs of women and girls, the challenges they face and monitor how much progress we are making.

We are also today announcing new support through UK Aid Match, to tackle violence against women and girls in Kenya. And we are launching a new shared approach across the UK Government to gender in Syria.

This will bring our existing commitment from tackling violence, to empowering women, to engage in the political process together. And mean that the British government places women and girls at the heart of our efforts to bring an end to conflict and bring forth a peace which includes everyone.

We are launching a new call to action today through our new plan. This is a call to action for everyone, recognising that we all need to take action in everything we do, if gender equality is to become a lasting reality.

If we succeed, girls, women, men and boys across the globe will be equal, empowered and safe.

And countries will enjoy prosperity, peace and stability.

We need to challenge and change unequal power relations between men and women. We need to build the interlinked foundations which will have a transformational impact for girls and women.

We need to protect and empower girls and women in conflict, protracted crises and humanitarian emergencies.

We must leave no girl or woman behind.

We need to integrate gender equality in all our work across the board, and track delivery through results on jobs, on trade, tax systems in the world economy, new technologies, modern slavery, climate change, nutrition, tackling AIDS, infrastructure and peace agreements.

We need to work across girls and women’s life cycles, on multiple areas simultaneously, with particular attention of adolescents.

We need to build evidence and disaggregate data. And we need to make that information publically available.

Today, we are doing a very untypical female thing. We are going to be asking for more.

Because without more we will fail the world.

Women’s empowerment, women’s rights, women’s talents and gifts are the entire margin of victory in the fight for prosperity, security and peace.

Without gender equality, we will never achieve any of the global goals.

A century ago, Emmeline Pankhurst said that “women have always fought for men and their children, but now they were prepared to fight for their own rights”.

Today, we must recognise they are the same thing. Without women’s rights, there are no human rights. Her potential is our future.

Whatever your motives, thank you for being here.

Welcome to the UK Parliament and the chamber of the House of Commons, in this centenary year of women’s suffrage.

100 years ago women in the UK were unable to run for office, or vote, or even be present in the public gallery.

If you look up you will see the ventilation shaft where women would peer through having gathered in the attic space where they viewed the proceedings below that affected their lives.

Often they would hear men voicing the widely held concerns that if women were given the vote it would be the end of everything, the downfall of the family, society, nation.

But those women knew, even then, that the opposite was true, that without their rights being secured, and their lives being fulfilled, family, society and nation could never really thrive.

Those incredible women who fought and suffered and endured to secure that right and paved the way for others.

They are heroines of our nation, their rallying cry, courage calls to courage everywhere.

They took their inspiration from the other side of the world, from New Zealand which had secured votes for women 25 years before.

And the other side of the world supported them as 50,000 British women from all walks of life marched on London to demand the franchise.

And you, who sit in this chamber today, have come to support the spirit of their cause.

I see a chamber filled with powerful, strong and courageous women, motivated by love, of your nation, your children and humanity.

You are heroines too.

Many of you have travelled here from all over the world. And some have had a much shorter journey today, but all of us have come a long way on our journey together.

One of the great joys in helping organise this event has been reading your biographies. Your achievements and your impact:

you are passionate human rights activists, you have struggled against injustice, you have fought to protect women from domestic violence, you have advocated for girls’ education, you are working to end FGM, and you have promoted rights for the most marginalised women - women with disabilities, women who are lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender and those living with HIV/aids. Many of you are the first women to occupy the office you hold.

In this chamber this morning we have Vice Presidents, Ministers and shadow Ministers, a Speaker and Deputy Speakers, chairs of committees and commissions covering every possible facet of public policy.

And we have representatives from women’s parliamentary caucuses and national women’s leagues.

And from the UK parliament the Mother of the House, and the leader of the Commons and Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee.

You are great women for those public achievements, but also for the many private achievements that only you will know about:

balancing your work with motherhood, juggling multiple caring responsibilities, the daily battle to be taken seriously, sexual harassment, intimidation and abuse, the restraint and resolve you need when constantly being patronised, the fight to be heard and to keep going when you are frightened. You have brought today your ideas, your passion and determination that we will deliver for women worldwide.

And I’m delighted that one of you has also brought the baby!

And as well as all that you have done, and the u represent, you also symbolise the many women who are not here today too, those we work alongside and those we have met on our travels. I want us to think of them for a moment.

Personally I am thinking about the amazing Sisters I met when visiting the Vatican - welcome Sister Sally sitting in the gallery today. Women of faith who place themselves in harm’s way all over the world to protect people.

Women serving in our armed forces, like Zara who I met in Afghanistan, after she had just won the sword of honour at their national officer training academy. She told me she wanted to shape her nation’s future for the sake of her child.

The brave female ministers who I’ve met in my travels who risk the wrath of their senior colleagues by speaking up about family planning.

The Dalit woman from Nepal who stood for election despite having little education and no experience of leadership. She is now an elected ward member and represents her village in the local planning process.

And the brave women on peace councils, threatened, intimidated and stalked, or their partners murdered.

And then there are those who could never be here, those held captive or killed.

I am looking at the shield of my late friend and colleague Jo Cox.

And I am thinking of my colleague at DFID, Becky Dykes, who like Jo was brutally murdered.

These women worked to protect others, especially women and girls. And both have inspired foundations in their name to carry on their good works, both were heroines, both did exceptional things.

But we know that the violence they experienced was not exceptional.

If this chamber and you sitting in it were the female population of the world, and I asked all those who had experienced sexual or physical violence to stand up everyone sitting on the front three rows would get to their feet.

And if this chamber represented the female populations of some nations on earth it would only be the back rows that would remain seated.

There is much work to do.

So thank you for being here today, for all you have done on this agenda.

For all you do to enable others to and all you inspire through your example.

For representing your nations but also the billions of women and girls who want to make the world a better place and reach their full potential.

Thank you for understanding that humanity depends on them doing so.

And as you get to know each other better today, think about all that the few of us here have been able to do, and think about the possibilities if we are able to empower every girl, every woman on earth.

Just think what the world could do. And there is much we must do. 25 million backstreet abortions every year. 200 million girls and women who have undergone FGM, with 68 million more at risk by 2030. 63 million girls not in school.

So let us recommit ourselves:

*to inspire and new generation of female social and political leaders, * to end violence against women and girls, * to grant all women access to family planning, * to end the barriers to girl’s education, * and to economically empower women.

We must implement the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, we must deliver within 12 years the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), especially goal 5.5 and UN Security Council resolution 1325.

And let us send a clear message to all those who would slow progress, whether they are in the global north or global south, that we will not stand for their nonsense.

I am so conscious as I speak to you that this very institution, the mother of all parliaments is still a hostile environment for some women who work within its walls.

I am aware that in parts of the UK not all women have access to reproductive healthcare where they live. Or marry who they love.

I understand the challenges of tackling historic failings or sensitive issues.

But tackle them we must.

And in 2018 we should not have to have a fight on our hands to get women’s rights mentioned in summit documents, especially when that summit is the G7.

Enough.

Unless we enable every woman to reach their full potential, humanity won’t reach its.

Unless women and girls thrive, our nations won’t.

Peace, prosperity and security depend upon our task. And we should depend on each other. And meeting each other face-to-face, over these two days, I can see the interest sparking.

How can we help each other do more? How can we support each other when the going gets tough? How can we all pile in behind you when you need support?

Let’s make an outcome from today a lasting connection between all of us. Whether it is a commitment to a giant sisterhood whatsapp group, or a greater interaction and collaboration around the issues we discuss today…

Because we must succeed.

Because the margin of victory is in this room.

Because courage calls to courage everywhere.

Without women’s rights there are no human rights.

I mentioned earlier the shadows and echoes of the women who went before us still surround us.

Let us recognise here today that we too will become shadows and dust, but our legacy must mean that in one hundred years a meeting like this will be nothing but a memory. Those who went before started a great movement for equality.

Let us be the generation that finishes the job.

Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for inviting me along today.

I’m a fan of the institute. The IfG is a very helpful organisation. It produces the performance tracker. Many interesting reports.

And in advance of events such as this, a round up assessment of the government’s agenda and challenges.

It was an appropriate coincidence that many of you would have read Hannah’s helpful scene setter on Blue Monday.

A fair summary would be:

Urgent recovery and reform required against geo and domestic political complexity and huge post Brexit expectations.

With not much spare resource, capacity, energy, time or trust.

I am reminded of Nixon’s 1969 inauguration speech:

“We are caught in war, wanting peace. We are torn by division, wanting unity. We see around us empty lives, wanting fulfilment. We see tasks that need doing, waiting for hands to do them.”

Are you suitably depressed?

Well, let me see if I can cheer you up.

Today, you will hear some ideas and issues that need attention.

You may hear some new policy ideas too from panelists,

But at such times of great challenge, we need to focus on strategy as well as tactics.

A successful strategy is not just for government.

It needs to yield opportunities. So we can all make a contribution.

If you’re here today, or watching online, or reading this speech after the event, it is likely you already have a good sense of the challenges facing us.

It’s also likely that you are part of the solution.

Whether you’re a politician, civil servant, or council leader, or exec or trustee or member of the media - it requires all of us.

Part of the frustration with politics is not that people don’t have solutions.

It is that people have great solutions and ideas, they desperately want to be able to act on.

People WANT to take responsibility.

They want to help. Did you not see what happened during Covid?

Individuals, business and organisations stepped up.

There was a huge civic outpouring.

And a renewed interest in volunteering that we should capitalise on.

Now they want to be the change. We should let them.

To unlock potential and create solutions we need to let every part of the UK, every talent, sector and individual to be able to help.

From us in Government that needs:

a clear mission

a commitment to excellence and accountability

the centre ground to be valued

free and empowered citizens

and the amplification of hope.

One of the things I do in preparation for my weekly Business Questions is to drill into the detail of what successive Political governments have achieved.

I also review the record of predecessor Political administrations too.

Since 2010, there is much to be proud of.

I shan’t take up time here because it is the future that matters. But do tune in on Thursday mornings for further details.

However, Technological change, geopolitical events and Covid threw the jigsaw pieces of our nation up in the air.

We are painstakingly putting them back together.

The picture has changed.

Many people feel things don’t work any more, at least for them.

Some are feeling economic shocks for the first time.

Consumers feel they have less power, sometimes it is harder to change contracts, or even make a complaint.

We have the rise of new monopolies which escape our usual ways of ensuring choice and opportunity for our citizens. (Whether they be what John Penrose calls ‘natural monopolies’ such as energy or water companies or ‘network monopolies’ – online giants which stealthily make their customers stick with them.)

The customer feels they are no longer the boss. They are not turning to the state, politicians or the regulator as their champion. Fair Fuel, Which? and Martin Lewis are their preferred protectors.

We have a generation gap - especially in financial resilience. Home and share ownership are still out of reach for some.

Young people are fixated on rewriting or tearing down the past because they don’t believe they have a future.

Older people feel their world has been “amazonked”, their values trashed and the high street hollowed out.

And we have a demographic timebomb to contend with. A quarter of the workforce is inactive. Others are still trapped in low pay by the system only part reformed.

Productivity and stronger wage growth is needed to raise quality of life

The volume of Data we now have should have empowered us.

At best it hasn’t.

At worst, it has made us more vulnerable.

Nor did it help us to spot the pandemic that hit us.

For those with the least, the whole system can seem rigged against them.

They see it in the so-called ‘poverty premium’ as the CSJ has termed it, that some parts of the private sector impose. Higher insurance, prepayment meters, high cost credit and paying to get access to cash.

They see it in the public sector upon which they depend. They can’t choose a school or a GP.

Much good has been done under previous administrations in these areas, from raising personal tax thresholds, to school reform resulting in meaningful improvements in standards, to strengthen consumer power - bank portability for example.

But there is so much more to do.

Innovative businesses are slowed down by the inability of regulation to keep pace.

Sometimes Government departments take too long to decide even who should be doing the regulating.

The absence of security felt by some has fueled the normalisation of conspiracy theories.

I’ve no wish to depress you. I am saying these things because to meet the peoples priorities, we need to understand them.

That is why the Prime minister in his New Year speech set them out- what they meant for the economy- halving inflation, growth, debt falling

And how he will fix access to healthcare and the small boats issue.

They want a stake, responsibility, security and accountability - put another way- fairness.

They want power, choice, and control or put another way- freedom.

Those principles are at the heart of my philosophy.

I also believe we don’t have a monopoly on them.

They are the values of our country.

And they are the lens through which I view our legislative programme.

We don’t do too badly the freedom index – it rates us 22nd in the world.

But what would it take to get us to the top spot?

To be on that podium is a choice.

As Chancellor, the Prime Minister commissioned work focused on how we get our economy working for all of us. To support competition. To modernise regulation. To raise the quality of life. To empower and unlock human potential.

It is why he has:

Protected R & D.

Championed agile regulation and a creative culture.

Enhanced access to finance for entrepreneurial and fast growth companies

And championed and a culture of creativity.

We progressed

The state of competition report,

The competition bill,

The procurement bill,

The EURL bill Retained EU Law Bill,

The subsidy control act

All those things which help drive choice and quality. We will continue to do that.

As we reassemble those jigsaw pieces we need what the PM calls a ‘shift of mindset’.

He understands the metric at the heart of this is ‘trust’.

That trust won’t be won when people understand how our legislation or budget will improve their lives.

That trust will be won when people feel understood.

When they feel the benefit in their wallets

In their quality of life.

In their resilience, security and opportunity.

Upon that trust hangs more than just happy citizens and election victory.

Or indeed the progress of the United Kingdom.

The very continuation and success of capitalism and democracy also hangs in the balance.

If people stop believing these systems work for them, then like Tinkerbell’s light those systems will fade and die.

So, between now and the end of the Parliament there is much at stake.

Have I now added anxiety as well as depression?

Can we meet the challenge?

One can’t go far wrong in listening to the advice of the Institute,

I want to thank them for their important work.

I spent some time with them, amongst other when writing GREATER which set out why we needed to modernise and how we might do that:

the mandate - parliament,

the management - Whitehall and Town hall,

the mutuality that binds us -

and markets.

In true ‘play your cards right’ fashion I asked 100 movers and shakers what they felt about Britain.

How we were doing, what was it that held us back.

What needed to change and why.

I mapped their views against every international indices.

I asked people what they had learnt.

I wanted to know what they identified Britain with.

How would that help us point the way.

There are many things that help shape a nation; time zone, the weather, geography, natural resources and its history and human capital,

But a country’s character is also its destiny.

The destiny of a country isn’t that chosen by its corporations or its political candidates.

You can’t take a country where it doesn’t feel comfortable going.

Yes modernise.

Yes reform.

Yes change.

But the pace and scope of the change must be calibrated.

Get it wrong and change ceases to become an opportunity and it becomes a threat.

Frank Gibbons in David Lean’s classic movie This Happy Breed called ‘our way of doing things’ ‘slow and dull’ and that ‘it suits us alright’

But go too slow, and change becomes an event - that for me is the lesson of Brexit.

So the UK is a paradox.

It needs division, to test ideas and make progress. But it needs unity to deliver them.

It needs both local and national vision and leadership.

It needs continuity to change.

It needs diversity and devolution. But consistency in its social fabric and social contract.

It needs shared values.

It needs balance.

At this point in the electoral cycle manifestos start to be shaped.

At this point in the parliament the glide path to an election that is the 4th session starts to be formed.

Everyone gets very excited indeed.

Competitive storytelling goes into overdrive.

Attention is sought.

Balance gets forgotten.

And this is why Parliament is so important.

Because Parliament, despite its confrontational layout, and penchant for drama, helps create balance.

So, as Leader of the House of Commons, while I will be focused on getting our legislative agenda through, keeping the building from falling down and I am hoping to get Steve Bray’s PA system permanently confiscated.

I will be doing something else too.

I’m also going to focus on making our legislature the best in the world.

That the services it provides enable MPs to have the most agency and capacity to serve their constituents as possible.

We will benchmark ourselves, in the first instance, against our equivalents in the G7.

We will be working with all MPs to rebuild our offer to them, and we are going to do it swiftly.

To ensure they are ready when they arrive, and that they are supported properly to deliver through their parliamentary career.

All that you’ll hear today - from every perspective and political hue - will be aided if we strengthen the most direct connectivity from citizen to real power: their MP.

I want them to be as effective as they possibly can be.

Their workplace needs to modernise,

The systems that we built during Covid demonstrate we have all sorts of options we currently choose not to use.

We need to move at the speed that business and science needs us to.

To improve our responsiveness and awareness, ‘slow and dull’ will no longer do.

And we need new partnerships to help us protect and defend democracy.

At his inauguration Nixon went on to say,

“To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.”

The answer is in all of us.

And we need to set it free.

Good morning, everyone and thank you all for turning up today to listen to me - although it is a mystery why.

They could’ve asked a doctor, an engineer, a headteacher or a judge, to speak to you today.

But no, the folks at Edelman have asked a politician to talk about trust.

I’m not here as an endorser of my host’s research,

nor its commercial organisation.

I am not being paid to attend

I’m here because they were kind enough to invite me and I believe trust matter, and trust-decay has real harm for our society and how it functions.

Lose trust in democracy and democracy dies.

Lose trust in capitalism and it fails too.

The progress of humanity depends upon trust.

Edelman have shown you the what, I want to talk about what we can do about it - not just in my profession, but all of us.

Everywhere, national governments, parliaments and other authorities with their bureaucratised and traditional structures, are struggling to be effective and relevant in the modern world. And they have been steeped in scandal.

Politicians share this timeline of trust decay with a cast of leaders from every walk of life. I will give you a quick recap.

Since the turn of the century, we’ve learned that our leaders, rigged interests rates, laundered drug money, presided over an offshore banking system bigger than anyone thought possible,

forced good companies into closure and destroyed pension funds as they themselves grew wealthier.

Collectively, they oversaw an unprecedented destruction of wealth and the collapse of the financial system.

They watched as life savings placed into investment funds set up by leaders of previously unimpeachable integrity turned out to be Ponzi schemes.

They sold off reserves of gold to compensate for these exercises in corporate greed, while never once convicting a banker.

Our spiritual leaders covered up sex abuse in the Church.

Our charity leaders sexually abused the vulnerable.

Our child welfare leaders have permitted child abuse.

Our Police leaders have allowed predators to wear a uniform.

Leaders of the automotive industry lied about emissions, were imprisoned, fled the country while out on bail and remain fugitives.

The leaders of our water utilities polluted rivers then tried to cover it up.

Global entertainment leaders have faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment and abuse.

Britain’s leading broadcaster falsely accused political figures of being child abusers, while allowing actual abusers to commit crimes on their premises.

Meanwhile, sporting leaders have been caught cheating and doping.

Human rights lawyers have been struck off for misconduct and dishonesty.

And the offshore tax operation thought to be a fraction of the UK economy, turned out to be a multiple of it.

These failings - personal and organisational - are nothing new.

But today it seems it’s not just that things don’t work or that some people are wrong’uns.

There are new layers to trust decay.

The system feels rigged against you.

Some are feeling economic shocks for the first time as has been pointed out.

Consumers feel they have less power.

Some pay a premium for being poor.

Life has gotten more complex.

It is harder to help,

Harder to communicate - to share platforms, to cut through the noise. To understand the world around us, to feel invested and invested in.

Harder not to feel overwhelmed in the face of existential and greyer threats.

Or the dizzying pace of technological change.

We have generational voids - young people are fixated on rewriting or tearing down the past because they don’t believe they have a future.

Older generations want to stop the noise. Stop the constant change. The bull***t (as they see it). Stop their world being turned upside down. Stop their values and institutions being belittled and patronised. These changes, in their eyes, are a type of catastrophe. They have lost the stars to steer by as slowly, the constants and comforts of their youth have disappeared. The high street has been hollowed out. Their childhood heroes have been debunked and their past rewritten. Local has been replaced with national and international. They feel overwhelmed; their world has been Amazonked.

So why this complexity and division?

The spread of a consumer society partially explains this–providing ever more efficiently to our own personal preference. We now have very specific requirements about our food, our work, holiday destinations, cars, clothes, just about everything.

In fact we express our economic franchise far more frequently than we do our political franchise. In politics, we get a chance to vote every five years but in economics we do so every hour of every day.

The rise of the internet means we can join groups that appeal directly to our own beliefs. Extremism can find extremists all over the world. We’re far more connected internationally than ever before. We can find anything to believe in there and people frequently do.

Then there is the growth in media, especially social media that commercially is dependent on conflict – we may have many shared values, but when did consensus ever sell popcorn? Now we have a media which is deliberately controversial and confrontational. We have commercialised conflict. We have specific commentators whose job is to stir things up and the simple truth is that harmony and contentment is not valued by the media.

And nor is it universally popular amongst politicians too.

These forces are all conspiring to make us feel more atomised.

Previously, we were split by gender, sexual preference, profession, location, marital status, education, football club, religion or politics. We are now split further by whether we are vegan, FBPE, BLM, Brexiteer or Remainer, nationalist or unionist, woke or non-woke. Zoomer or boomer.

This complete atomisation means that people do not feel that their values are shared. At best, those with different opinions are abused. At worst, they are cancelled and demonised.

‘We’ have become a million types of ‘they’.

When this happens, trust between groups breaks down.

Some are genuinely afraid.

Afraid of saying the wrong thing or of worse.

Mental health suffered, for some this exhibits itself in a new vice of choice: the paranoia of conspiracy.

Here a few recent gems that have appears on mainstream broadcast this past weekend:

The air-raids in Ukraine are fake, and the sirens are sound effects applied by the Ukrainian government.

Controversial traffic calming measures are not the product of an overbearing lib dem council but a global conspiracy to get us to eat insects.

I am all in favour of livening up local authority transport committees, but there are limits!

The Government is shortly going to start rationing food, and a food rationing app is in development. This is a conspiracy between the government and large food corporations.

Presumably there will be unlimited access to turnips.

And this exploitative monologue:

“Are we simply to be fed on a diet of propaganda right down to the lies about health and food and the climate and war and biology and race until we are so unwell, confused, exhausted and anxious that we don’t notice when they pick the last penny out of our pockets and lock us down in a digital ghetto watched round the clock by cameras and listening devices we pay through the nose to carry in our own pockets. And the rationing of tomatoes.”

And now it’s time for the weather.

Such alarmist nonsense gains credibility from being sandwiched between credible broadcast anchors. People whose loyalties have historically been to their profession and craft.

Falsehood and deep fakes sit alongside information and legitimate debate in your social media timelines.

We can tell the difference though, right?

An opinion poll a few years ago by Hope Not Hate showed:

30% of 25-30 year olds believed antisemitic tropes they saw online. 31 % of that age group thought that Covid had been intentionally released as a deliberate depopulation plan by the UN or the New World Order’. 29 % thought that the vaccine programme was an attempt to insert microchips into people. 50% of people aged 25-34 believed that regardless of who is in government, there is a single group of people who secretly control events and rule the world together. 50%. Being a government Minister, having attended Davos, I am clearly part of this group - and I am braced for a post speech social media pile on as to why I am an apologist for a global illuminati hell bent on ending humanity as we know it.

As a former defence secretary and the UK Government’s former defensive cyber lead - I can testify there are enough organisations in the world trying to do us genuine harm, thank you very much, without us having to invent some.

So how can we build trust?

We need to recognise what is driving this.

Conflict and division sells. It is a vice.

Nothing new about that. It is why we all say we hate PMQs but thousands will be tuning in later today.

But so much of the content I take issue with is not about debate. It is about profit. Attracting an audience which is addicted to such theories.

Raise concerns about the harm being done and you are “one of them”, or a ‘free speech denier’.

You’ll be told? ‘What is your problem? I was just asking the question, I just want to know what is your connection to the Rothchilds?

Work in broadcasting and care about compliance and ethics? and you are and I quote, “Ofcom’s b**ch”.

Division and disagreement is not bad.

In fact I’d argue it is good. Its present does not make societies and communities weak. It makes them strong.

We’ve just seen China does well on the lack of a trust gap. Nope not much division there.

I don’t want to live in China.

The UK is quite good at taking on and adopting new ideas partly because it listens to minority voices. The future always arrives as a minority. That’s sometimes where you can hear tomorrow.

Because alongside different views and ideas there is a recognition of shared values.

An understanding of what Freedom really means

It is about rights but also responsibilities.

Free societies need responsible adults.

The value of free speech is not just in your freedom to say something, but also in our ability to listen and learn something. It is also the freedom to change your mind and the freedom to be uncertain.

The absence of that freedom damages our ability to be effective, our wellbeing and we should never take that freedom for granted and we should recognise when it is under attack.

We need new ways of helping people be digitally literate, and think critically.

Government is acting on this:

We are improving the effectiveness of the House of Commons.

We have the Online Safety Bill and workstreams and the defending democracy task force.

The Prime Minister is on a mission to restore trust, starting with clear priorities and accountability.

He understands that trust is earned.

But we recognise something else is required too.

It is about the relationship between trust and values.

You see, politicians spend a lot of their careers seeking the parenthesis.

Searching for values that we share, that we care about.

These might be the love of our families.

The desire for health and prosperity.

It might be the concern for our environment or our children’s future.

A shared venture, a common project.

What we all have in common.

The future of Britain isn’t decided by politicians, it’s decided by the character of the British people. Their character is the national destiny.

This fills me full of hope because I believe in the character of the British people. They’re sceptical. They don’t like bullies. They’re fair-minded. They’re thrifty. They don’t like greed. They like to help. They have a sense of humour. They are tolerant. They love freedom.

My late friend Jo Cox said: “We have more in common than that which divides us.” Her words are freighted by the manner of her death. If the Commons had a motto it should be that.

Politicians have an important role to play. We have convening power and we can, when we choose to, bring people together and we should.

Before we find answers, we must find shared challenges.

Common ground.

Truths we know to be self-evident.

Where you find common ground, you will find trust.

Establishing shared values starts with being prepared to defend them.

That is what we can do as politicians.

It is what we must do as citizens.

You see you need not trust the former but we all have to trust the latter.

Thank you.

It’s an honour to welcome Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid, Her Excellency the Minister, and the Belgian delegation here to London.

I would like to thank the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium and the CBI for all the good work you are doing and for inviting me today.

Our nations are longstanding allies with a partnership built upon our shared values of free trade, security, and democracy.

We are both founding members of NATO, and now more than ever we must be united in our commitment to European security.

But security is more than just defence, ensuring our economic stability is vital.

The ability for our nations to capitalise and seize new opportunities is one which cannot be taken for granted. We must work together to protect our businesses, consumers, and sectors.

I appreciate that for many businesses the last few years have caused difficulty and uncertainty. I want to reassure you that the UK is as open as ever and committed to supporting your firms.

While I appreciate Brexit was not to everyone’s liking, it does highlight certain qualities that are helpful to business. Knowing that the government does what the people tell it to do. Whatever you think of Brexit, it helped to reinforce the belief that governments are the servants of the people. Never the other way around.

So change has come to our trading relationships. It has happened and we are adjusting. Change offers unprecedented opportunities for fresh thinking in business. Change is the fuel that entrepreneurial companies need.

Whilst the UK has set a new path, we’re committed to close trading ties with Belgium and the rest of Europe. We remain strong friends and allies. After the Ukrainian war, now more than ever, we respect each other’s commitment to democracy.

A relationship based on zero tariffs and zero quotas under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

A relationship we are building on through meaningful engagement to make sure the deal delivers on its promise of free, fair, and plentiful trade.

The £900 million that Belgian firms invested in the UK over the past year alone, is testament to the work we have already done.

However, we must not be complacent.

The UK is committed to the continued modernisation of its relationship with the EU, ensuring we maximise our collective potential – as evidenced through the UK’s £180 million investment to build a Single Trade Window; streamlining traders’ interactions with border agencies.

A second opportunity I would like to speak to is shared priorities…

We have never been closer in our common purpose.

Both our nations are rising to the existential challenge of our age – climate change in the long-term, and rising energy costs in the short-term. I believe these two challenges are two sides of the same coin. Reducing carbon and reducing costs walk hand in hand. When we re-use, re-cycle and reduce we save money as well as protect our environment.

Of course, this will take close cooperation. But I believe we, in partnership, can be successful.

Belgium and the UK are world leaders in this regard with you committing to increasing offshore wind generation to 8 Gigawatts by 2030 and the UK setting an ambitious target to quadruple our solar and wind power generation over the next decade.

I also welcome the current joint ventures in wind technology between our countries and recognise there are many further opportunities for collaboration including in hydrogen, carbon capture and electric cars.

But to guarantee success, our governments must continue to provide the connections and infrastructure that enables world-class talent to deliver.

The MoU on energy cooperation signed earlier this year is working towards exactly that.

The final point I want to highlight is the UK’s role as a gateway to the world.

Belgium can and should see the UK as a means to access global opportunities – from the US to the Indo-Pacific.

By operating in the UK, Belgian businesses will be able to benefit from the network of Free Trade Agreements we are now signing outside of the EU.

The UK has already agreed deals with Australia and New Zealand. One of the Bills announced in the Queens speech today will bring those deals into effect.

We are on track to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership by the end of year. And I’m driving forward trade talks between the UK and 20 individual US states, slashing bureaucracy, and strengthening our ties with the world’s largest economy.

All these agreements will benefit Belgian businesses who invest in, and trade with, the UK.

As economic competition intensifies worldwide, we must clear the path to trade between our nations. We must remove unnecessary obstacles to growth and ensure we provide our businesses with the necessary tools to succeed.

Because it is businesses, not governments, that deliver prosperity.

It is businesses, not governments, that create sustainable jobs and drive innovation.

And it is businesses, not governments, that forge the trade and investment ties which bring nations together.

So, let’s set more innovative British and Belgian firms free to trade and invest between our markets.

Change can be the opportunity they’ve been waiting for.

Thank you.

Thank you and thank you all of you there are so many people here today, it’s fabulous to see that.

I want to start by extending my heartfelt congratulations to Stonewall as it celebrates its 30th anniversary. Thanks to everyone who has worked and continues to work in and with the organisation, for your hard work and your commitment and for fighting for justice.

It’s no secret that we meet at a time of great turbulence, many of you are worried about recent events and I don’t seek to convince you today that everything is going according to plan, or that this is quite what we intended or that you can please all of the people all of the time. But what I can do is remind you that we still have much to be proud of.

As I travel around the world listening, I hear many opinions and there’s a notion out there somehow because we here hold different opinions that we’re divided and that makes our strong nation weak.

Well let me tell you, I travel to many countries and in some of them there’s no freedom of expression at all. Political opinion, plurality of thought isn’t valued. There’s no tolerance of diversity or race. In fact, there is rising intolerance, particularly of religious belief and of sexuality. And I must tell you that this absence of argument and diversity is no sign of strength any more than our current situation is a sign of weakness.

Sometimes this short-term division can prepare us for greatness to come and this is where Stonewall comes in. Over the last three decades that organisation has been in one fight after another and it’s campaigned with markable dignity and resolve to successfully bring about change.

But what should employers care about peoples and organisations that fight for diversity, aren’t they disruptive? Aren’t they constantly attacking the status-quo? Aren’t they just idealists full of hope and optimism? Yes they are and that’s exactly the sort of people we want in a modern entrepreneurial operation.

These people cooking up radical change are the same people who bought you revolutions in personal computing, healthy food and retail. If you’re building the businesses of tomorrow, you can never have enough brave, authentic, passionate, committed, hardworking colleagues who give you deep insight into your customers and your clients.

Sometimes just being yourself is the bravest thing that you can do and 30 years ago that took considerable courage.

It has become easier over time and Stonewall and its supporters deserve huge credit for that but we know that it can still take immense courage to be yourself. While many battles have been won, complacency is neither a desirable nor a commercially feasible option.

So, for everyone in this room, there are decisions for us to make. We could put these people under pressure, we could invent a private life that bares little resemblance with reality. We could ridicule, we could belittle them. We could talk behind their backs. They won’t thrive, some will cope, others won’t. Or we, in our respective organisations, could become leaders. We could become leaders of our companies, we could become leaders of our communities.

And if we want our colleagues to show spirit and leadership in their work, we have to show spirit and leadership in our boardrooms. This is no longer an issue of marginal social justice, it’s a matter of management efficiency.

Why don’t we harness human spirit and accept and celebrate brave, passionate and loyal people? Because if we do they will repay those that enable them to thrive, and when you do this not only to you recognise their leadership but you become a leader yourself.

Today’s conference focuses on LGBT issues in the workplace. Do we want to thrive in our workplaces? Do we want to feel safe happy and complete? Or do we want just some of our colleagues to feel that way?

The Governments’ 2017 survey about the experience of LGBT people made for sober reading.

19% of respondents were not open about their sexual orientation or gender identity with any of their colleagues at the same or a lower level.

23% had experienced negative or mixed reactions from others in the workplace and 11% of those in work had experienced a negative reaction due to someone disclosing that they were LGBT without their permission.

And behind every statistic there is a human story and behind every story there is a missed leadership opportunity.

A middle-aged gay man told us in that survey:

“As a university academic, my lack of openness surprised a lot of people. Despite my institutions’ genuine attempts to create a friendly workplace for LGBT people, a couple of colleagues had been allowed to create a negative, homophobic atmosphere in my department.”

A young trans woman reported:

“I had my workplace attempt to refuse sick leave for me for necessary medical treatments and I have been harassed by customers in my workplace. I have had customers cancel their service because of my gender identity. I don’t feel safe, respected or equal as a transgender woman.”

We can’t see that when we make people, all people, feel welcome and safe at work it’s good for business. Maybe British business has so much talent that we don’t need sensitivity, intelligence, authenticity and courage. Of course not.

My critics have chided at me for saying this, accusing me of being “far too woke for my own good.” But this is not about being woke or pc or trendy. It’s about the margin victory in every endeavour we set our hearts on. It’s about respect, care, love and compassion for others.

And I know this from my military service as a reservist and later as a minister for armed forces. Self-knowledge, self-respect and self-confidence are an operational imperative to our armed forces. Which is why they have come a long way in such a short space of time.

Less than 20 years ago being gay could get you a dishonourable discharge from the military. The mere suspicion that you might be could see you subjected to all manners of bullying and today the armed forces have recognised the logic of what I have laid out here.

It is only right they should do so. You can’t fight a war if you are busy obsessing over someone’s sexuality or hiding who you are.

The military came to see this, that it wasn’t just the right thing to do morally, but a matter of operational effectiveness that needed to be dealt with swiftly. And this year the army came 51st in Stonewall’s list of the top 100 most inclusive employers.

Stonewall invited all army personnel to take a survey of their views on army inclusivity.

93% of non-LGBT respondents said they understood why the army is committed to LGBT equality. Meanwhile the wonderful Captain Hannah Graf was named Stonewall’s Trans Role Model of the year. And all of which has been cheered by Lieutenant General Patrick Sanders, who is both Commander of Field Army and LGBT Champion for the army and has spoken of the army’s commitment to being an inclusive employer that offers opportunities for all and reflects the society it represents and serves.

The change in the army on LGBT rights is like the difference between bayonets and smart missiles, yet it happened so much more rapidly and that should serve as an inspiration to us all. We want every workplace to be welcoming and supportive for everyone, it’s the right things for individuals, it’s the right thing for organisations and it’s the right thing for the UK economy.

Last year in our LGBT Action Plan we made a range of commitments to promote inclusion in the workplace. We’ll provide employers with free training materials, we’ll continue to act on sexual harassment in the workplace, and convene a working group of employers to understand the experiences of LGBT employees. The GEO will work with employers to develop targeted interventions to improve the experience of LGBT people at work.

And I’m pleased to announce that this autumn the GEO will convene a series of events to gather views, share expertise and experience. Most of you in this room have the knowledge and the skills to contribute, and we will shortly be setting out more details about how you can get involved. Please do so, and please continue to do the right thing.

And the civil service will continue to seek to be an exemplar of best practice, as will government ministers.

Ordinarily, few things are less exciting than machinery of government changes, even for avid fans of Yes Minister. However, the recent migration of the GEO into the Cabinet Office is significant. It integrates the GEO’s work on things such as closing the gender pay gap, with ending inequality for LGBT people, and engaging more closely with business. We will be able to do more work, joined up, and take an intersectional approach, rather than presuming that people only need to be thought of as having one diversity characteristic.

It will help us tackle and have a sustained cross-government effort to combat inequality using all of Whitehall’s expertise, energy and power. And I make no apology for the fact that government is making a series of equalities asks of business. Not because we want you to bear the burden of the costs, not because we want you to do more work, but because it will create a happier, more effective workplace.

And that means, frankly, that Whitehall has to walk the walk as well. Working as one in the sense that we are united in the effort, and working as one in the sense that departments are not replicating each other’s work and overburdening HR directors.

When I came into this role nearly a year ago I did an audit of the asks that we are making from various government departments of you and your HR directors. The GEO is the lead on gender pay gap reporting and introduced ground-breaking legislation in 2017 which requires large employers to report their gender pay gaps on an annual basis. BEIS are asking you to report on Chief Executive Officers’ pay ratios, the government also wants you to sign up to a range of schemes:

the Race at Work Charter; Disability Confident; sector charters for gender equality; and the See Potential campaign And all of these issues are vitally important and they all require energy and commitment. But this work isn’t remotely joined-up or co-ordinated. And I want to say a big sorry to you for that. I want us in government to be much better at understanding the asks we are making of you in business. And the processes are only the means, it’s the end, the creation of dynamic, diverse, high-performing businesses and organisations that really matters.

Proper buy-in from organisations depends on us working together in the cause of inclusion and equality, not in a way that creates unnecessary burdens. I intend for the newly-installed GEO to be basecamp for proper government-to-business communications, a vital dialogue which has been so evidently missing, especially through the last couple of years. And we need to better communicate our national mission to you and we need to listen more to your needs, ideas and ambitions.

And there is a particularly strong imperative to support the rights of trans people in the workplace. In fact worries about different documents with different gender markers can make trans people fearful about even applying for a job. The government wants to make this process, and the wider experience of being trans, much easier. We want to reform the way that trans people can legally change their gender, and make the process far less bureaucratic and intrusive. We held a public consultation last year on how best to do this, and we received more than 100,000 responses and we’re working hard to analyse them and will publish our response very shortly.

For too long LGBT people have had to endure intrusion and abuse whilst also experiencing being marginalised and silenced, and your conference today falls on Lesbian Day of Visibility so I’m going to now just read some of the responses we had from lesbians who responded to that LGBT Survey.

A woman from the south east said: “I’ve been careful only to share information regarding my sexual orientation with people I know I can trust and be certain that they won’t react negatively. One person came out in my workplace in the last year and there were a lot of things said behind her back as a result and therefore I don’t plan on telling anyone at work anytime soon.”

Another respondent from Yorkshire said: “Having to constantly come out, worrying when you’re starting a new job, pointing out homophobia in the workplace, and not being listened to, other members of the LGBT community also being homophobic, there’s a lot to deal with on a daily basis.

And a young lesbian from the north west said: “My sexuality is often not taken seriously. At my workplace homophobic jokes and comments are often made which make me feel inadequate and unable to openly be myself.”

Who would want to ignore that?

We must celebrate success stories, as has been said, and champion our role models, and with this in mind I want to close by saying a word about Ruth.

Ruth has done stellar work in her fight for equality. She’s combatted homophobic bullying in schools, advised higher education establishments, supported role models, lead campaigns, and overseen vital research, and much has been done besides. And if we are going to look for leadership we don’t have to look far.

Ruth you remind us all that it really is possible to make the world a better place.

And business does need to follow your lead. Our nation needs you all to do that. In the UK with our four nations radically in different places on social policy, and LGBT issues in particular, and politically divided, UK-wide and international businesses, all of you here in this hall today and listening around the world, you’re vital to forming the social fabric of our United Kingdom.

You see there is so much more to be gained, and so much resting, on your success. Over and above profit margin, or GDP, it’s about our national identity, it’s about our national values, and our potential, as individuals and as a country.

Thank you.