Chairman of the Conservative Party Oliver Dowden Speaks to T&G on Women’s Safety and More

Conservative Party chair Oliver Dowden has told Times Radio the government has some way to go to convince its own MPs about the value of big-spending and state intervention.

Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn and Jack Blanchard on T&G on Sunday, he was asked is there's a job to be done to convince MPs about so-called "Red Wall-ism":

Yes, and I think that's why the theme of this conference is getting on with the job. We need to demonstrate to people that the people who put their trust in us, who put their trust in us in 2019, who voted for us in places where they'd never voted for us before, we're actually going to get on with the job and deliver. And I think what you'll see during this conference is announcements and speeches that explain how we are doing exactly that.

On fresh revelations about Sarah Everard's killer including that he was deployed as an armed officer at the Houses of Parliament:

I am deeply disturbed by them and I think the whole nation feels disturbed and feels a sense of tragedy at what happened to Sarah Everard. I certainly know that part of London well. It could have happened to any one of our loved ones and that's why I think it's absolutely essential that we get to the bottom of those failings and I know for example in relation to Parliament the Speaker has urgently written to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to investigate this properly.

On the vetting of officers and what Dame Cressida Dick needs to do:

There's the independent investigation going on. I know that the Home Secretary has of course been in constant touch with the Met Commissioner and I think it's right that we allow the Met Commissioner to get to the bottom(of it). There is a clear problem on the face of it and I think it's right that she should do so.

TND: She hasn't said she would though...

OD: Well, I would expect her to do so.

And Mr Dowden has described the term "male privilege" as "crass":

I think it's a bit too simplistic to simply talk in terms of male privilege. I don't think for example if you're an unemployed man on a council estate outside Newcastle, you're going to feel particularly privileged so I think it's I think it's a bit of a crass term but historically it has been the case that men have had more opportunities than women and society has rightly addressed that.

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