After making a joke about transgender individuals while her mother was in parliament, Rishi Sunak has refused to apologize to the family of murdered transgender student Brianna Ghey.
Because he was criticizing Sir Keir Starmer’s indecisiveness, the prime minister insisted that the jibe about how to “define a woman” was “absolutely reasonable” and that it was regrettable and incorrect for the Labour leader to associate Brianna with his remarks.
When asked to apologize, he responded, “If you look at what I said, I was quite clear, talking about Keir Starmer’s proven track record of U-turns on key policies because he turns on a strategy.”
Mr. Sunak, who was skeptical of the remarks, claimed that Sir Keir’s decision to abandon a flagship commitment to invest £28 billion in clean energy “demonstrated the point” he was making.
Peter Spooner, Brianna’s parent, branded the remarks as “degrading” and “absolutely dehumanizing,” and demanded an apology from Mr. Sunak. He stated that he was “disgusted” by the joke.
However, Mr. Sunak claimed that critics were using his remarks to “detract from the very distinct and apparent point I was making” and that they “demonstrated the worst of politics.”
One minister even seemed to suggest that Mr. Spooner should “actually listen” to what the PM said as ministers also came together to defend Mr. Sunak.
Additionally, Mr. Sunak has invited Brianna’s family to Downing Street for a conference about online security in an apparent effort to put the incident behind him.
On Wednesday, Mr. Sunak claimed that Sir Keir was unable to “define a woman” and that this was just one of many things he had changed his mind about.
However, a furious Sir Keir soon reprimanded the Tory leader. “Of all the days to say that, when Brianna’s family is in this room,” he said. “Shame.”
On Wednesday evening, Kemi Badenoch joined the group that backed Mr. Sunak’s transgender joke, accusing Sir Keir Starmer of “weaponizing” Brianna Ghey, a trans teen, in his remarks.
While Brianna’s mother Emma Ghey was scheduled to be in the Commons viewing gallery, the business secretary criticized Mr. Sunak for the joke, calling it “disgusting.”
“Every crime is a tragedy,” Ms. Badenoch, who also oversees the president’s equality policy, said on Wednesday evening. “Nobody should be made trivial by social point-making.”
The business secretary incredibly stated in tweets with the hashtag No10 that “as a mother, I can visualize the stress that Esther Ghey has endured.”
“It was terrible of Starmer to instantly attribute his own inability to be clear on the subject of sex and gender to her grief,” she added to the PM’s remarks.
Her comments came as it was revealed that Mr. Sunak had invited the Ghey family to Downing Street despite his repeated refusal to apologize for the joke.
Ms. Ghey is currently campaigning to increase website protection at a meeting with Mr. Sunak.
Chris Philp, the minister of police, said to BBC Breakfast, “The Prime Minister made no reference at all to any specific transgender individuals.”
Keir Starmer was the one who first suggested that. The Prime Minister was making a point regarding Labour’s various flip-flops.
When asked about the request for an apology from Brianna Ghey’s father, Mr. Philp responded, “I believe anyone interested in this matter should actually listen to the clip and the first exchange.”
Mr. Philp responded, “I have every respect for, certainly, the views and feelings of a grieving father,” when asked if he meant to imply that Peter Spooner, Brianna’s father, had misunderstood the Prime Minister.
On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Laura Trott insisted that Mr. Sunak’s comments had “absolutely nothing to do with this horrible tragedy” and denied that they were a “joke.”
“I want to be absolutely clear that this wasn’t a joke and that it has nothing to do with this terrible tragedy,” the chief secretary to the Treasury told LBC.
The PM, however, “could not have been clearer about the tremendous respect he has for Brianna Ghey’s family” and that his point had been about Labour “flip-flopping on important issues,” according to president Jeremy Hunt.
The PM made a number of social mistakes, the most recent of which was the error. He received criticism for placing a £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan that repatriation flights to Rwanda would depart before the general election, as well as for an uncomfortable moment when he laughed in the face of a mother’s pleadings for him to remove her daughter from the NHS waiting lists.
Teens Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe stabbed Brianna to death in a Cheshire park in February of last year.
The judge stated during their imprisonment earlier this month that the “exceptionally harsh” murder had elements of both depravity on the part of Jenkinson and misogynistic hatred on Ratcliffe’s part.
