Philip Davies spoke to Daily Politics after his appointment (Picture: BBC)

Philip Davies is one day into his new role on the Women and Equalities Committee but he has wasted no time in making his feelings quite clear.

The anti-feminist Tory MP, who was elected unopposed to the committee yesterday, told Daily Politics that he would ‘prefer’ it if ‘women’ was dropped from the committee’s title.

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He also likened his desire to sit on the committee as that of UKIP politicians who wished to become MEPs, before adding he hoped to bring some ‘common sense’ to the committee.

He said: ‘The committee’s there whether I like it or not, so if I can bring some common sense to the committee that’s surely a good thing.




He added: ‘I’d prefer if it was just called the equalities committee. I don’t see why it needs to be called the women and equalities committee. You can still look at women’s issues on a committee that’s just called equalities.’

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Caroline Lucas, who also participated in the BBC interview, said it was hard to take his position seriously when he described it as ‘depressing’.

She said: ‘I hope the time he spends on the committee will be an opportunity for him to understand a bit more about entrenched sexism in our society.

‘This is an MP who has been saying that this committee shouldn’t even exist, and yet he’s now looking to take his position on it.

‘We need MPs on that committee who recognise, for example, the level of the gender pay gap, who recognise the disproportionate violence against women, who recognise that there’s still a very long way to go in business, politics and just about every sphere of life.’

His appointment to the committee was greeted with shock and surprise yesterday.

The Tory MP has been outspoken in his views about feminism in the past and managed to start a debate on international men’s day in parliament.

Labour’s Gavin Shuker said he would have to ‘just let [the announcement] sink in for a minute’ but Davies has maintained that he believes in equality.

Speaking yesterday, he said: ‘People shouldn’t have their opportunities determined by these things, all of these things should be irrelevant.

‘That’s the agenda I want to pursue on the committee – a true equality that is colour-blind, gender-blind, sexuality-blind and religion-blind.’

What does the committee do? The committee has a remit to scrutinise the Government’s performance on equality issues relating to sex, age, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, pregnancy and maternity, marriage or civil partnership status.