Daily Express

MP’s fury at ‘woke’ Labour message

- By David Maddox

LABOUR’S decision to put out a message celebratin­g a “Transgende­r Day of Visibility” on Easter Sunday provoked anger yesterday.

Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith described Sir Keir Starmer’s party as “clowns” for the online post marking the woke event on the holiest day in the Christian calendar.

Meanwhile Canterbury Cathedral chose to have the Lord’s Prayer in Urdu in another move to push diversity. It came as Labour posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Today, on Trans Day of Visibility, and always, Labour stands with trans people.”

Mr Clarke-Smith said: “It’s on us to give people a reason to vote for a Conservati­ve Government and not simply argue, ‘well, the alternativ­e is a lot worse’. But the prospect of these clowns running this country should fill any sensible person with absolute horror. We can’t let it happen.” Mr Clarke-Smith’s attack is a sign of a brutal general election campaign ahead, which could focus on cultural and woke issues.

His fury was not just directed at Labour – he also blasted his local vicar in Nottingham­shire. The Revd Nicky Skipworth, of All Saints’ Church in Harworth and Bircotes in Bassetlaw, posted on Saturday: “Tomorrow is Easter Day but it is also Transgende­r Day of Visibility.

“Being visible may be the last thing a trans person wants, so great is the risk of public humiliatio­n and worse, but if you are, or know someone who is trans, we want you to know your special day won’t be forgotten.

“Could it be that the two celebratio­ns go better together than many think?””

Mr Clarke-Smith told the Express: “Absolutely crazy stuff. You’d have thought Easter Day of all days they would leave this nonsense for a bit.”

Dominic Cummings, former chief of staff to ex-PM Boris Johnson, also spoke out and described transgende­r ideology as “deluded”.

Mr Cummings posted: “My message of hope on Trans Day of Visibility: ‘trans’ does not exist, the sex you were born with is your sex, calling yourself something else is self-delusional words infinitely weaker than biology and evolution.”

The row came after Mr ClarkeSmit­h’s former party colleague Lee Anderson, and one-time deputy Tory chairman who has defected to Reform UK, wrote for Express.co. uk that politician­s needed to remember that Britain “is a Christian country.”

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