Rishi Sunak, the prime minister of Great Britain, departs from 10 Downing Street on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, for London’s weekly Prime Ministers’ Questions session. A.P.
LONDON: On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was under increasing pressure to retract a statement he made about trans people. This was coming after rumor mongers told him that the mother of the murdered girl was in Parliament.
Sunak attempted to make fun of the Labour Party leader’s stance on the concept of a woman during his regular questioning in the House of Commons.
In response to Keir Starmer’s query, Sunak listed a number of points that, in his opinion, showed the Labour leader making about-faces. He concluded by jokingly stating that he believed that the definition of “a woman, although in fairness, that was only 99% of a U-turn” was incorrect.
Starmer, who Sunak’s Conservatives have accused of wavering on the subject of self-identification and who pounced on his statement last year that “99.9% of women haven’t got a penis,” was the target of his remark, which was meant to embarrass him.
Starmer, who had welcomed Brianna Ghey’s family Alice, was clearly enraged in response. Sunak later acknowledged Ghey’s presence and praised her “compassion and empathy,” but he made no attempt to apologize after he said the remarks were incorrect.
Study: “Surprisingly, I felt like myself”: the prolonged process of gender transition in the UK
“When Brianna’s mother is in this room, of all the days to say that. Shame,” Starmer remarked. “Acting like a man of integrity when he has no responsibilities whatsoever!”
Peter Spooner, Brianna’s parent, expressed shock at the comment and urged Sunak to apologize.
He told Sky News, “As the prime minister of our country to come out with demeaning remarks like he did, regardless of whether they were related to conversations in Parliament, they are definitely dehumanizing.”
Sunak was also urged to apologize by Stonewall, a group that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, for his “cheap, cruel, and insensitive” use of trans people as a “punchline.”
The two 16-year-old Brianna murderers who were found guilty last year received life sentences with maximum prison terms of 20 and 22 years on Friday.
The horrifying death shocked the entire country. After being lured to a park in the city of Warrington in west England on February 11, 2023, Brianna, then 16 years old, was stabbed 28 times in her head, neck, torso, and again in broad daylight.
Brianna’s family has received a lot of praise for their respectful response, which called for the families of the convicted couple to be treated with compassion and empathy. She stated in an interview with the BBC on Sunday that she would be willing to meet Scarlett Jenkinson, one of Brianna’s two murderers and the leader, according to the judge in the case.
In order to assist teachers and students in taking care of their mental health, Esther Ghey is advocating for restrictions on what children under the age of 16 can access on their phones and for the widespread use of meditation in schools.
Sunak was questioned by Treasury Chief Jeremy Hunt about why he chose to use a series about sex as a “political joke in the presence of a grieving mother.”
He asserted that “that is not what happened.” What he was saying was that Keir Starmer is unable to decide on the major issues of the day.
Concerns about the level of discourse before a general election later this year have been raised by the conversation between Sunak and Starmer, who met with Esther Ghey afterward on Wednesday to discuss emotional support for children.
Sunak has come under pressure from some of his own lawmakers to place so-called culture war issues on the agenda in an effort to make dividing lines that may start to dominate the public debate as his Conservative Party trails the main opposition Labour Party seriously in the opinion polls.
