LGBT rainbow lanyards won’t be banned in Whitehall despite common sense minister’s announcement

May 15, 2024 by Jill

by Dominic Penna, Telegraph:

New Cabinet Office guidance has no specific reference to pass straps but instead refers to the importance of Civil Service impartiality.

Rainbow lanyards will not be banned in Whitehall, it emerged on Tuesday, despite an announcement by the common sense minister just 24 hours earlier.

Esther McVey warned civil servants not to express political views “by the back door” through rainbow-coloured lanyards that are worn to demonstrate support for LGBT rights.

But Cabinet Office guidance published on Tuesday made no specific reference to lanyards, instead encouraging civil servants to “maintain political impartiality, regardless of their own political beliefs”.

In a speech for the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, Ms McVey had said: “The lanyards worn to carry security passes shouldn’t be a random pick and mix, they should be a standard design reflecting that we are all members of the Government.”

She urged mandarins to “leave your political views at the building entrance” and added: “Trying to introduce them by the back door, via lanyards, should not happen.”

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