absolutely petrified” by the idea that some members “do not think [trans people] are valid”, casually distorting the arguments of those of us who believe there’s a conflict between the demands of trans extremists and women’s rights. She was also quick to condemn Tony Blair when he sensibly suggested that the party should be wary of starting a “culture war”.
Rayner is far from being alone in the party. She is the most recognisable face in an influential lobby that includes the former shadow minister Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who had to apologise for a baseless attack on the author J K Rowling last year, and the shadow minister for tourism and heritage, Alex Sobel, who opposes single-sex spaces for women in hospitals, schools, refuges and prisons. “And that is why so many women no longer vote Labour – enjoy being in long-term opposition,” one woman told Sobel in an exchange on Twitter….
At the end of last week, the Labour MP and former frontbencher Khalid Mahmood homed in on identity politics as one of the causes of Labour’s poor showing, arguing that the party has been captured by “brigades of woke social media warriors”. But he’s a rare voice of sanity in a party that seems to have surrendered to a form of magical thinking. I wonder what Labour voters would make of the kinds of discussions that take place in local party meetings. In the midst of a pandemic and worsening economic crisis, members have been proposing motions declaring that “transwomen are women” and chastising anyone who objects to being described as “cis”.
Labour used to be described as a broad church, in which different factions more or less co-existed – not happily, to be sure, but dissent was permitted. Not any more. I know Labour councillors who are terrified to say openly that they are gender-critical, fearing the vitriol they will face. I’ve been told by party insiders that some MPs feel the same but they dare not speak out while the party is led by people who so vociferously support an extreme version of trans rights.
When Labour MP Rosie Duffield was the victim of a pile on by trans-activists last summer after liking a tweet suggesting that only women have a cervix, she might have expected sympathy from the most senior woman in the party; instead, Rayner told Duffield she should ‘reflect’ on her views about trans people.
It isn’t a Left-Right split within the party, it’s wholesale capture. The surrender to gender ideology began under Jeremy Corbyn, when transwomen were allowed to stand for positions as women’s officers and admitted to women-only shortlists. It has continued under Starmer, ensuring that women across the party now feel betrayed and angry.
Khalid Mahmood is interviewed at Spiked on why he resigned from Keir Starmer’s front bench.
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