Reclaim Party MP, Andrew Bridgen has used the freedom afforded by his newfound affiliation to hit out at his former party. Taking to Twitter this morning, Bridgen criticised his local Tory association for supporting trans “indoctrination in our schools”. He also attacked Sunak’s failure to define what a woman is. Despite the fact Guido thought Rishi’s answer had been pretty clear…
This is why neither Starmer or Sunak can define what a woman is. Clearly @NWLeicsBlue think your children should be taught this nonsense in school.
— Andrew Bridgen (@ABridgen) June 1, 2023
Leave our children alone and stop the indoctrination in schools. https://t.co/FkI5Z1Irp7
Bridgen was responding to a tweet from North West Leicestershire Conservatives which had criticised the “hate and vitriol” of Lawrence Fox, who previously described a Smörgåsbord of gender identities as “mental disorders”. To add another layer to the bitch fight, the author of Leicestershire Tories’ tweet is one Leon Spence. Leon is still on Andrew Bridgen’s payroll…
Spence’s pro-trans tweet isn’t the only of his social media antics to have caused trouble for his boss. He also moderated and approved and sent Andrew’s infamous holocaust tweet. It’s anyone’s guess why Leon’s not so keen to fess up to that one…
Speaking today to Paul Goodman from Conservative Home, Rishi Sunak confirmed his stance on what makes a woman. When asked to clarify that 100% of women don’t have penises, Rishi responded “yeah, of course”. He then confirmed the government was in the process of looking at how the Equalities Act treats biological sex. Wasn’t so hard now, was it Sir Keir?
The Scottish Government will launch a legal challenge to Alister Jack’s Section 35 order to block the SNP’s controversial gender identity legilation. The rejected bill would have allowed Scottish people – including 16 and 17-year-olds – to obtain a gender recognition certificate without the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. It was blocked because of the potential impact on UK-wide equality laws. Humza Yousaf was the only SNP leadership candidate who pledged to reverse the decision…
In a response to a written question today, Social Justice Minister, Shirley-Anne Somerville said:
“Scottish Ministers will now lodge a petition for judicial review of the Secretary of State’s decision. The Scottish Government does not consider the reasons set out by him provide sufficient justification for his decision to make an order under section 35 of the Scotland Act. The Scottish Government also believes that the UK Government has not used the power in line with the Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and Devolved Governments”.
Alister Jack hit back, confirming his view that action was legal:
“The use of the power is entirely within the devolution settlement as set out from its inception, with cross party support.”
Guido would have thought the SNP already had enough legal challenges to deal with…
Over the weekend, Guido was somewhat surprised to see Sir Keir reversing his position on trans self-ID in the Sunday Times and this morning we’ve got yet more detail of Labour’s line. Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, Starmer reluctantly clarified:
“I was trying to create some common-sense frameworks to the discussion that we inevitably have, by just starting with the common sense proposition that for the vast majority – let’s say 99.9% – biology matters. Women have won many rights, smashed glass ceilings, won on equality and discrimination and we can’t roll any of that back”.
Presumably, Starmer thinks the biological truth is irrelevant for the 0.1%…
The Welsh government was seemingly forced to u-turn on plans not to include the words ‘women’ and ‘girls’ in their new Period Dignity campaign, launched this week. The action plan Period Proud Wales, published on Wednesday by Minister for Social Justice Jane Hutt, states the “language within this plan aims to be inclusive and to consider the experience of women, girls and anyone who menstruates”.
“this plan includes use of the terms “women”, “girl”, “those who menstruate”, “learner” and “patient” throughout. In order to be inclusive, the term “women, girls and person who menstruates” will be used most frequently to encompass all affected by this plan”
Naturally, from the parliament that currently provides tampons in the men’s bogs…
According to the consultation published alongside the action plan, however, Drakeford’s government wasn’t originally planning to acknowledge women or girls at all. The consultation ran from October 2021 to January 2022, and one-third of the respondents raised concerns that the original draft had an “absence of references to women and girls”. They cite one example response:
“Please stop erasing women from our own health matters. It is not inclusive language if we are being pushed aside. Inclusive language would be “female” or “women, transmen and non-binary”. Women’s health is specific to women – not people. Not referring to us as women will lead to the message not getting out to women.”
Other respondents accused the initial women erasure of being “dehumanising” and alleging the government’s decision risked creating “a new euphemism around menstruation.”
The consultation report says that “an appeal to use the words ‘women’ and ‘girls’ rather than ‘people’ was by far the strongest theme of the responses.” Of the 198 responses along these lines, just 12 argued the plan should use the language of “women, girls and transmen and non-binary people”. Is it any wonder Drakeford still wants to copy Sturgeon’s disastrous plan to allow male rapists into women’s prisons…
