Read our Privacy noticeFormer safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has said she "hated" being in Keir Starmer’s government as she described the battle she faced to persuade other departments to take action on violence against women. I hated being a government minister actually, I hated it,” she said. Ms Phillips quit as a minister in May in a bid to force Sir Keir from No 10, and said that he lacked “the drive to get anything done with gusto". "The Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, if you were to do everything in it, you would probably drop [VAWG] by about 25 per cent,” she said. "I have one job, and it is to stop women having to be flexible about their safety."