Westminster women not 'window dressing'

Flint dramatically quit Gordon Brown's Government last week, accusing the prime minister of treating several women in cabinet as "little more than female window dressing". Her exit came at the end of a week that saw four other women quit the Government.

Miller, who has spoken of her desire to see more working mothers in Parliament and is a supporter of reforming parliamentary working hours, said MPs needed to work harder to encourage women into politics, but added: "I don't think any MP could ever characterise themselves as female window dressing. You can't become an MP unless you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. This isn't a job you fall into, it is a job you have to plan for and have to work hard for."

She conceded that there were still too few women in Parliament; when she was elected in 2005 she became only the 277th ever female in Parliament. Women still make up just 20% of all MPs.

"I think every single one of us works hard to make sure that we don't just represent women's views but that we have a strong voice in the way the country is going forward," she told HR.

"But we need to strengthen that further. We need to make sure that the setbacks that have been experienced in recent weeks, in terms of the number of leading women in this government who felt it inappropriate to stay on under Gordon Brown's premiership, do not deter women from coming in."

She stressed, however, that women must get there on merit. "David Cameron has made it absolutely clear he wants to see a significant proportion of the people in a Conservative government being women. But, as any employer would say, women have to be there on merit. Perhaps it is that approach that gives you more long term, long lasting success."