Trans activist who grilled minister is son of Labour’s Balls and Cooper
YVETTE Cooper and Ed Balls’s son grilled the Education Secretary on trans rights ahead of a protest where he was branded ‘Tory scum’.
Left-wing student Joel Cooper, 20, interrupted the closure of Nadhim Zahawi’s appearance to challenge him on trans issues.
After the incident at Warwick University, Mr Zahawi was met by a baying mob of activists outside, shouting ‘Zahawi is a transphobe’ and ‘Tory scum’.
They accused him of ‘inciting hatred’ for previously using the phrase ‘adult human females’ to describe women. The minister had to be ushered away from campus by security guards as he was pursued by activists brandishing trans flags and placards.
Friends of Mr Cooper, whose mother is the Shadow Home Secretary, said he was not involved in the fracas. Mr Zahawi gave a talk last Friday at the university’s Conservative Association, taking a selection of student questions at the end.
Mr Cooper, who describes himself as being involved in LGBT issues, called out: ‘You say you think it’s important to bring parents into the conversation when it comes to trans issues in schools. But that is completely negligent of the fact that LGBT people are more likely to end up with antagonistic relationships with their parents. So that’s outing students to their parents.’
Mr Zahawi responded and said parents’ involvement should be dealt with in a ‘sensitive way’. A video of the exchange was later put on Instagram by Warwick’s Labour society.
Mr Zahawi wrote on Twitter afterwards: ‘[Mr Cooper] made a reasonable point about how schools can help children which I was happy to debate.’ The protest was advertised on Instagram by an account called Trans Action Warwick, thought to be run by students.
Trans activists had tried and failed to have Mr Zahawi’s appearance cancelled.
Warwick Pride, the student union’s society for ‘lesbian, gay, bi+, trans, undefined and asexual/aromantic’, claimed Mr Zahawi ‘plays a significant role in institutionalised transphobia’. Miss Cooper and Mr Balls declined to comment.
The university’s Labour society said it was ‘supportive’ of a member challenging the minister’s views on trans issues.