Sunak makes controversial transgender remark in Commons amid visit by murdered teen's mother
Rishi Sunak
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday, (Feb 7) tooka jibe at Labour Party leader Keir Starmer for hisstance on gender identity. Sunak joked that the leader of the opposition party could not define what a woman was, asthe mother of a murdered transgender attended parliament'squestion-and-answer session.
Last week, two teenagers were jailed for the murder of Brianna Ghey, who was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife.
In an exchange with Labour leader Keir Starmer, who had said Ghey's mother was watching, Sunak said "defining a woman" was on thelist of Starmer's broken promises, jokingit had been "only 99 per cent of a U-turn".
Sunaksaid "a man is a man and a woman is a woman" andcriticised Starmer, saying he "still does not know what a woman is".
In reply, Starmer said,"Of all the weeks to say that, when Brianna's mother is in this chamber. Shame. Parading as a man of integrity when he's got absolutely no responsibility."
Wednesday's jibe appeared to be in reference to a comment from Starmer, when questioned about his views on transgender issues last April, that 99.9 per cent of women "of course haven't got a penis".
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Sunak's press secretary said the prime minister had been listing Labour's U-turns and to do so was "totally legitimate". She said she did not accept that it was a transphobic remark.
While a Labour spokeswoman told reporters: "We think the comments from him are deeply offensive to trans people and he should reflect on his response ... and apologise." Ghey's mother was due to meet Starmer after the session.
Sunak did not address Starmer's comment and did not respond to calls from other lawmakers to apologise.
Sky News reported on Wednesday night that the father of the murdered teenager, Peter Spooner, said he was shocked by the prime minister's comments and felt he "should apologise for his remarks".
At the end of the session, Sunak did pay tribute to Ghey's mother, saying: "What happened was an unspeakable and shocking tragedy...
"In the face of that, for her mother to demonstrate the compassion and empathy that she did last weekend, I thought demonstrated the very best of humanity in the face of seeing the very worst of humanity, and she deserves all our admiration and praise for that," said Sunak.
