Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
Esther McVey – attacking the poor, helping the rich
From being minister for cutting poor people’s benefits, McVey became an adviser to a company assisting ‘high net worth individuals,’ writes SOLOMON HUGHES

ESTHER MCVEY’S promotion to work and pensions secretary rightly alarmed everyone who cares about those of us who rely on benefits. 

McVey’s time as employment and disabilities minister, from 2013 to 2015 was marked by sharp attacks on those without jobs and those with disabilities.

But there is another side to McVey. She flipped from attacking the poor to working for a company serving the rich.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Google
Features / 3 October 2025
3 October 2025

The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

TORY HIGH SOCIETY:  Sir John Ritblat
Features / 19 September 2025
19 September 2025

It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES

Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks as he hosts a VJ Day commemorative reception in the garden of 10 Downing Street, London, August 14, 2025
Features / 5 September 2025
5 September 2025

Keir Starmer’s hiring Tim Allan from Tory-led Strand Partners is another illustration of  Labour’s corporate-influence world where party differences matter less than business connections, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

Defence Secretary John Healey (third left) and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu (second left) view a long-range air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missile, during a visit to MDBA in Hertfordshire, July 9, 2025
Features / 22 August 2025
22 August 2025

MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

Similar stories
Sabrina Carpenter performs during The BRIT Awards 2025 at London's O2 Arena, March 1, 2025
Features / 16 May 2025
16 May 2025

Labour’s pop-loving front bench have snaffled up even more music tickets worth thousands apiece, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

HELD IN CONTEMPT: Elbit has faced a long campaign of sabotag
Features / 4 April 2025
4 April 2025
Israel’s number one death dealer supplying the IDF in its murderous campaigns against the Palestinians is now actively wining and dining our military top brass, looking to flog its blood-soaked wares, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
DON’T BLAME CLAIMANTS: People take part in a protest outsi
Features / 28 March 2025
28 March 2025
Health Secretary Wes Streeting taking £53k from Tory-linked recruiter and outsourcer Peter Hearn’s OPD Group is a great example of how Labour’s rich donors shape policies targeting the poor – not their wealth, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
SITTING PRETTY: (Left to right) Baroness Liddell, Claire Kob
Features / 29 November 2024
29 November 2024
Let’s take a closer look at the sprawling network of former ministers, political insiders and officials who make money from the firms responsible for soldiers’ squalid accommodation, writes SOLOMON HUGHES