Starmer Chameleon strikes again. Sir Keir hadn’t taken to the stage long in the BBC’s Question Time special last night before the issue of his tendency to U-turn cropped up. Turning to the trans debate and Starmer’s rather, um, checkered history on the matter, one audience member asked the Labour leader: ‘Three years ago you criticised your MP Rosie Duffield for saying only women have a cervix. What do you believe now and how do we know you will stick to your views?’
For readers that are struggling to remember quite how many times Sir Keir has dithered on the gender debate, Mr S can fill you in. Starmer was previously in favour of allowing trans people to self-ID just three years ago – and even worked with LGBT+ site PinkNews to release a video reiterating his support for the trans community. It was in September 2021 that Starmer blasted Duffield for saying that only women have a cervix. ‘It’s something that shouldn’t be said,’ Starmer told Andrew Marr during a BBC interview. ‘It’s not right.’
Yet just months ago, the Labour leader admitted that actually ‘biologically, of course [Duffield] is right.’ But he still couldn’t quite bring himself to apologise to his gender-critical colleague — and when quizzed on his stance last night, Starmer gave a rather bizarre response.
‘On the biology, I agree with what Tony Blair said the other day, that a man has a penis and a woman has a vagina,’ insisted Sir Keir. But his response didn’t satisfy everyone…
‘From now on, I shall be submitting my every comment and thought (particularly those mainstream views which most people agree with) to the former Labour Prime Minister so that it may officially be de-toxified…’ Duffield fumed on Twitter. Awkward…
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