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.
RB: It’s not a lecture from me. It’s the points that many, many women have raised…
DL: I think it’s a shame you have decided to raise an issue that’s not coming up on the doorsteps of this country. It’s a distraction, it’s deliberate and I’m calling it out for what it is.
RB: It’s coming from women within your own party. Do they not have a right to have a voice in this discussion?
DL: You’ve decided you want to interview me on the subject, I’ve said all that I can say on the subject and I’ve gotta tell you, it’s not an issue that’s being raised by the British people. We are determined in the Labour Party to set a course that’s responsive to the British people. You could’ve asked me about fuel, you could’ve asked me about supplies across our shops, you could’ve asked me about energy, you could’ve asked me about the mental health proposals we’ve got today, you could’ve asked me about climate change, you could’ve asked me about education. Instead, you’re choosing to ask me about an issue that has never, ever been raised.
If you don’t listen you won’t hear, eh? And Rowling isn’t too impressed with Lammy’s blatant obfuscation either, tweeting: ‘The contempt and anger displayed by this self-described feminist when asked about the trivial matter of women’s rights is sadly predictable. This is,’ she added, ‘the bloke who thinks men can grow cervixes.’ Burn…
Listen to the clip here:
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