“It was ‘terrible and wrong’ for Rishi Sunak to associate his jibe about transgender individuals with the situation of the murdered teenager, and he has refused to apologize to Brianna Ghey’s father.
The prime minister backed off from his remarks on Thursday night, claiming that connecting them to the transgender child’s situation was ‘the worst of politics.’
Sunak has been urged to apologize after claiming that Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, had trouble ‘defining a woman’ during the prime minister’s questions on Wednesday. He made the remark after being informed by Starmer that Brianna’s family, Esther Ghey, was in the public gallery.
Sunak was urged to apologize by Brianna’s parents, Peter Spooner, who claimed that his remark had been ‘dehumanizing.’ In February of last year, two teenagers lured Brianna to a park in Cheshire and killed her there.
Sunak stated to reporters during a visit to Cornwall, ‘Like everyone, I was totally shocked by Brianna’s situation.’ It is nearly impossible to come to terms with having your child taken from you in such a terrible situation, so for Brianna’s mother to speak about it with such empathy and compassion, in my opinion, was inspiring and demonstrated the very best of humanity. I have nothing but the deepest sympathies for her entire family and friends.
However, I believe it is both sad and wrong, and it demonstrates the worst of politics, to use that tragedy to undermine the very distinct and clear point I was making about Keir Starmer’s proven track record of multiple U-turns on major policies, because he doesn’t have a plan.
Opposition factions and some Conservatives criticized the prime minister harshly for his remark. ‘Of all the days to say that, when Brianna’s family is in this room,’ Starmer remarked to Sunak. ‘Shame.’
When asked to respond to Spooner’s demand for an apology, Sunak replied that his remarks had been ‘completely legitimate.’ ‘If you look at what I said, I was quite clear when I mentioned Keir Starmer’s demonstrated history of U-turns on significant policies because he lacks a plan.’
Sunak was ‘very keen’ to meet Brianna’s family, according to Chris Philp, the police minister, earlier on Thursday.
Sunak’s remark has drawn criticism from a number of Tory MPs. While she was a supporter of balancing trans rights with the protection of single-sex spaces, former minister Jackie Doyle-Price stated to Times Radio that Sunak’s comment ‘trivializes something that is quite important’ and was ‘frankly very ill-judged.’
On Thursday, another former chancellor, Dehenna Davison, added that it was ‘disappointing to see jokes being made at the trans community’s expense,’ adding that ‘we all need to realize that our words in the house resonate correctly across our society.’
With her local MP, Charlotte Nichols, Brianna’s family had traveled to Westminster for PMQs as she advocated for meditation lessons to be taught in schools following the murder of her daughter.
Last month, Eddie Ratcliffe and Scarlett Jenkinson fatally stabbed Brianna in a Cheshire park. The judge claimed that the ‘exceptionally harsh’ death had elements of depravity on the part of Jenkinson and misogynistic hatred on Ratcliffe’s part during their imprisonment last year.”
