Labour accused of ‘weaponising’ Brianna murder by Badenoch
KEMI BADENOCH accused Labour of “weaponising” the murder of Brianna Ghey after Rishi Sunak refused to apologise for a transgender jibe.
Mr Sunak accused Sir Keir Starmer of having difficulty in “defining a woman” in an attack on Labour Party U-turns, while the mother of the trans teenager attended Prime Minister’s Questions.
The remarks prompted an immediate backlash, including from Tory MPS.
But Downing Street insisted the joke was not transphobic and said the comments were “totally legitimate”.
Mrs Badenoch, the equalities minister, said: “Every murder is a tragedy. None should be trivialised by political point-scoring.
“As a mother, I can imagine the trauma that Esther Ghey has endured. It was shameful of Starmer to link his own inability to be clear on the matter of sex and gender directly to her grief.
“Keir Starmer’s behaviour today shows Labour are happy to weaponise this issue when it suits them.”
Speaking at PMQS, the Labour leader told Mr Sunak that Esther Ghey was in the public gallery.
Despite this, the Prime Minister went on to say: “I think I have counted almost 30 [broken promises] in the last year. Pensions, planning, peerages, public sector pay, tuition fees, childcare, second referendums, defining a woman – although in fairness, that was only 99 per cent of a U-turn.”
This was a reference to Sir Keir saying that all trans women were women, before later saying that 99.9 per cent of women do not have a penis.
The Labour leader condemned Mr Sunak’s remark, saying: “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.”
At the end of PMQS, Mr Sunak addressed the issue, saying: “If I could just say also to Brianna Ghey’s mother who is here, as I said earlier this week, what happened was an unspeakable and shocking tragedy … She deserves all our admiration and praise for that.”
No 10 declined repeatedly to apologise for Mr Sunak’s language and said it was part of a “legitimate” criticism of Labour to point out the party’s “long list of U-turns”.
Last night Brianna’s father told Sky News that Mr Sunak should apologise for his “degrading comments”.
Peter Spooner said the remarks were “absolutely dehumanising”.