Despite requests from Brianna Ghey’s parents, Rishi Sunak has once again refused to apologize for remarks he made about transgender individuals in parliament this month.
When Brianna’s mom Emily Ghey was in parliament, Mr. Sunak rejected claims that he had cracked a joke during Prime Ministers Questions.
He said on BBC Radio Somerset on Friday, “That is not what I did, and it is incorrect to say that.”
“What happened was a tragedy, and using that to try to undermine the completely separate and crystal-clear point I was making about Keir Starmer and his proven track record of U-turning on numerous policy issues because he doesn’t have an idea is, as I said, both sad and wrong and the worst of politics.”
Sir Keir Starmer was the target of Mr. Sunak’s criticism for his remarks, in which he claimed the Labour head had broken his vows to “define a woman.”
Just one year after two youngsters were given sentences for the death of Brianna, a transgender woman, the exchange took place while Ms. Ghey was in parliament.
Brianna’s parent Peter Spooner criticized Mr. Sunak for his comments during PMQs in an interview with Sky News, calling them “degrading” and “absolutely dehumanizing,” and he urged him to apologize.
“It is completely dehumanizing for the prime minister of our nation to come out with insulting remarks like he did, regardless of whether they relate to conversations in parliament.”
“Names of people should not be used in that way, and I personally find his feedback shocking and believe he should apologize for them.”
Brianna’s parents demand an explanation.
Gordon Brown, a former prime minister, joined Mr. Spooner in pleading with him to apologize.
“Prime ministers make mistakes,” he admitted to the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge. “You can’t say that every prime minister will make mistakes, but I believe you should apologize if you do.”
“And I mean, it’s a very sad and truly dreadful case—a horrible community in mourning.”
“I am aware that he has expressed sympathy for the home, but maybe I should do what I had to do on one or two occasions and offer my sincere apologies. And I do acknowledge that if you make mistakes, you must immediately right them.”
Gordon Brown advises Rishi Sunak to apologize for his jibe.
Some Cabinet ministers, including Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who said it was “disgusting of Starmer to reference his own inability to get clear on the matter of sex and gender straight to her grief,” have defended Mr. Sunak in response to calls to apologize.
The primary secretary responded to Labour’s determination to repurpose its £28 billion green investing commitment elsewhere in the BBC Radio Somerset interview as “yet another U-turn.”
However, Mr. Sunak declined to apologize when BBC host Charlie Taylor asked if he would, saying that it wasn’t appropriate to involve someone’s family in politics in the wake of a tragedy. “I believe it to be wrong and terrible.”
But, Chris Philp, the police minister, told Sky News yesterday that there was a “wider level here for politicians, for journalists, and for everyone to keep in mind when there are very sensitive issues being discussed, to always employ courteous and measured vocabulary, lest there be unforeseen consequences.”
