Gloria De Piero MP, Labour’s Shadow Women and Equalities Minister, commenting on the attempted ousting of Anne McIntosh MP, said:

“What is going on in in the Tory Party under David Cameron? Already four of the female 2010 intake have announced they won’t be standing again and now Anne McIntosh, their only female MP in the whole of Yorkshire, is fighting for her political life amidst suggestions of sexism and claims she is being condemned as a “silly little girl”.

“There’s no place for such outdated views in a modern political party, yet David Cameron, for all his claims to be different, fails to say or do anything about the plight of one of his most senior female MPs. His silence speaks volumes. When it comes to women, it’s out of sight out of mind for the Tories.”