Rosamund Urwin "The lack of women in Parliament isn’t just a national embarrassment: it should be a national emergency." "A sexist stench still pervades politics. Women MPs face the same pressures as the men, just with added sniping and minus the chumocracy that gets you promoted. Politics isn’t a meritocracy. The corridors of power are like one long Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson bromance: full of male buddy-buddying and back-slapping. And as we saw with the execrable handling of the Lord Rennard allegations, men can close ranks to silence women’s complaints. Miliband was right yesterday: representation does matter. A House of Commons where only 22 per cent of MPs are women is one where female voices are inevitably sidelined."