I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Philip Davies MP, the parliamentary spokesman for the Campaign Against Political Correctness, who says “feminist zealots want women to have their cake and eat it”, has been voted onto a Commons committee concerned with empowering women and girls.

As a member of the Women and Equalities Committee, Davies, who successfully lobbied for an historic International Men’s Day (IMD) debate in parliament last month, will join feminist MPs in scrutinizing the work of the Government Equalities Office (GEO), which predominantly focuses on issues relating to women, sexual orientation and transgender equality.

Davies’ arch-nemesis, Jess Phillips MP, who ridiculed the proposal for an IMD debate last year, welcomed his appointment with characteristic cynicism, saying: “I have every faith that the intelligence and skills of those on the committee will mean he will have little effect, much like in the rest of his career.”