How the Brexit chaos robbed disabled people of another short-lived minister

I’m hearing that Queen song “Another One Bites the Dust” in my mind as I write this because we’ve lost yet another minister for disabled people.

Sarah Newton, who at least showed some guts by resigning to vote against the disaster of a no-deal Brexit, was the seventh to occupy the post in the nine years of Conservative or Conservative-led (mis)rule that this country has been subjected to.

When it comes to revolving doors, this one resembles something Warner Bros might have dreamt up to misfire on Wile E Coyote in one of his failed pursuits of the Road Runner (meep meep).

Newton, whose biography was still on the Department for Work and Pensions website this morning, can at least point to an achievement during her time in office. I mean, beyond her plan to appoint disability champions and not pay them. She spent 16 months in post which makes her the longest serving Tory minister of state rank in the position, beating out (bad) Penny Mordaunt by a matter of days. Yay her!

The contrast with the previous Labour administrations could scarcely be more stark. It’s true that the position only came with the rank of parliamentary undersecretary of state in the Blair/Brown years, as opposed to being handed to a minister of state (usually) under their successors.

But at least the occupants hung around for long enough to get to grips with the role. Over the 12 years Labour had in government there were just five ministers for disabled people. Maria Eagle managed more than four years in post, Anne McGuire in excess of three while Margaret Hodge clocked up just under three.

This matters because it takes time to properly understand a sector like disability. I’m still encountering new wrinkles with it and I’ve been writing about it for nearly a decade.

It’s true that there are some problems common to all of us. We are far more likely to be unemployed than are able-bodied Britons, for example. Most of us will have faced some level of discrimination at some point in our lives. Then there is the broken testing system for disability benefits set up by the execrable Iain Duncan Smith, a problem only now (sort of) acknowledged by Amber Rudd, the current secretary of state for work and pensions, a job that has also had something of a revolving door attached to it.

These might be “global” sector-wide issues, but addressing them is a lot more complicated than it might look because the way they impact upon someone with autism will be different to the way they affect someone who has suffered a spinal injury, will be different to the way they challenge someone who has impaired sight or hearing.

It should also be remembered that disability is only one part of a person’s identity. Most of us don’t want it to define us. We’d just really like to be able to go to the shops or use public transport without facing abuse if you could manage that, thanks very much Britain.

All this means that a one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t suffice when it comes to addressing these issues, and improving the lives of the very different groups of people that make up this country’s disabled community. Assuming, of course, the government wants to do that. It says it does, but I have my doubts.

The job of minister for disabled people is far from the only short-term gig in Westminster, partly because our desperate excuse for a prime minister seems to lose ministers like most of us lose our keys. But one policy person working in the sector told me that the turnover gives them the impression that this is a job people either don’t want, or don’t care about. Ditto the government as a while.

And just look at the way some of the people in the role have carried on. It’s hard not to come away with the impression that they are just terrible people, more interested in talking at disabled people than to them (hello Esther McVey) while repeating the lie that this country is a world leader in disability rights, which it most certainly is not. You want evidence? Then I refer you to the United Nation’s devastating report that accused the British government of the systematic denial of disabled people’s rights.

I suppose there is one consolation. At a time when disabled people need all the help they can get, at least the rotten apples like McVey don’t hang around for long.