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JK Rowling slams David Lammy over women’s rights

(Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)

The Harry Potter author strikes again. After blasting Sir Keir in a recent Times column, this time prominent women’s rights campaigner JK Rowling has hit out at Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy over past comments he made on gender issues – and she’s not pulling any punches.

The renowned writer has reposted an old BBC Radio 5 Live interview with Lammy from a few years back, where the Labour man was being questioned on the trans debate. His interviewer Rachel Burden spoke of how women’s rights activists have been accused of being ‘dinosaurs’ and ‘hoarding rights, as though “rights” are some kind of pie with a finite end’. Stopping her mid-sentence, Lammy cut in:

DL: As a black man, who is the descendent of enslaved people, I’m really not going to take any lectures about rights. And I’ve fought very hard for rights on behalf of all sorts of people. I stood up in parliament and argued for same-sex marriage, I’m someone who identifies as a feminist so I’m really not going to take any lectures on rights.

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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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