As the government comes out against Sturgeon’s trans bill, which would allow 16-year-olds to change gender with minimal effort, Guido was surprised to hear one minister contradicting this message. Speaking to Kay Burley this morning, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she thought 16 was old enough to change gender, despite even Sir Keir saying it was too young at the weekend. At least she’s not overseeing the publication of new gender identity guidance for schools…

It seems odd that a Secretary of State would deviate so wildly from the government line, however a recent DfE appointment might shine a light on Keegan’s thinking. The Department for Education recently announced the hiring of Russell Viner as their Chief Scientific Adviser.

Russell Viner has spent much of the last decade researching the effects of puberty blockers. Recently a paper of his found that the effect of puberty blockers was “positive for the majority”. His research involved giving such blockers to 12–15-year-olds with gender dysphoria. To be fair to Russell, he did also say that “we are dealing with unknowns” and that further study was “essential”. This didn’t stop the controversial and discredited Tavistock Centre from citing his paper as the justification their decision to give hormone treatment to pre-teens.

Co-conspirators will not need reminding that the Tavistock Centre was shut down last year after an independent review found it to be “inadequate”, with doctors saying it was referring patients onto a gender transitioning pathway “too quickly”. Guido imagines Kemi will have a word or two to say about Keegan’s medical beliefs…