What’s up in Westminster?

Grazia joins Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd on a visit to Working Chance, a recruitment charity supporting women leaving the criminal justice and care systems

I’m particularly interested in

helping disadvantaged women and ex-offenders get into work, so I’ve come to Working Chance on a fact-finding mission to see what we can do to help in this area. The old business of going to a job centre to look through a list of jobs is over – everybody needs specialist, tailored help to get them into work. But, there is a cohort of people – like the women who use this service – who find it difficult because they’re not what an employer thinks they’re looking for. Working Chance provides a sort of safe space, so the women can have their confidence boosted, their skills enhanced and then go and get a good job.

This is important now because

immigration rates are coming down with us leaving the EU, so we need to make sure we look for employees in every corner to fill any gaps. The more specialist organisations we have, the more likely we are to achieve that, and helping disadvantaged women into work is a priority of mine. I’m going to keep raising it in the Commons and on Thursday, I’m making a speech about the future of work and how opportunities in AI will bring huge potential.

In Westminster, there’s still a laddish culture.

I’ve even had comments from male Conservative MPS describing me as ‘headmistress’. It makes me feel… eugh, that old trope. It’s so patronising and highlights the unusualness of female authority – this business of men only being able to think of one authoritative figure in their lives.

I’m even more determined to make my own mark when

I see sexism at play in the media. I’m often described as [the late writer] AA Gill’s ex-wife, or [City PR heavyweight] Roland Rudd’s sister. The other week, there was a story about my ex, [Tory MP] Kwasi Kwarteng, getting engaged and the headline read ‘Amber Rudd’s ex’. They always want to attach a man to you and it’s irritating. I find it peculiar there’s this assumption that, because I was married to someone or they’re my brother, we must have the same views. The root of my objection is the idea I’m not my own person.

My daughter, Flora, makes me feel like

a blushing non-feminist. She’s so feminist she checks me the whole time. When Greta Thunberg [the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist] was over recently we were talking about the language some male MPS used to describe her. They called her ‘a little Swedish girl’, which was pretty objectionable. Flora always helps me realise when something isn’t right and has taught me to check it against how I think a man would be described in that instance. She’s helpful like that. workingchance.org

‘There’s still a laddish culture’