Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘Being in Labour Party like abusive relationship’ - MP
Duffield tells of ‘trauma’ of political isolation
Rosie Duffield says she feels “trauma” due to her “political isolation” in the Labour Party even comparing her experience to an abusive relationship.
In a column written for website Unherd, the outspoken Canterbury and Whitstable MP suggests the party has a “women problem”, after being “shouted down” by colleagues for her stance on trans rights.
And in the critical article, the 51-year-old - who is Kent’s only Labour parliamentarian - says she will struggle to convince her constituents the party is not sexist.
“When I come home at night, I feel low-level trauma at my political isolation,” Ms Duffield wrote.
“I am not going to join the Conservatives, or the Lib Dems or the Greens, but this party doesn’t always feel like home. “In 2019, it was hard enough trying to convince my constituents that Labour wasn’t antisemitic.
“In the next election, when they inevitably ask whether Labour is sexist, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do the same.” Ms Duffield, who was first elected in 2017, was given a standing ovation in parliament four years ago after speaking out about being the victim of domestic abuse.
During the speech she described suffering through “months of verbal abuse, threats and incidents” before ending the relationship.
In her column, Ms Duffield notes “in each case a woman who dared to voice an opinion [on the transgender debate] was ignored” by the Labour hierarchy, drawing parallels between that and the “stonewalling” domestic abuse victims experience.
“Is it starting to look as if Labour has a problem with women?” she asked. “It is for me. I’m ostracised for voicing not only my own opinions, but those of thousands of others who are starting to question the party to which they have dedicated so much of their lives.” This comes after Ms Duffield spoke in opposition to Scotland’s controversial Gender Reform Bill in the House of Commons last Tuesday.
The politician argued the legislation would infringe on women’s rights.
But she says two of her Labour colleagues “traded sympathy for aggression by shouting down women in the chamber”. Recounting the incident in her article, Ms Duffield wrote: “I was defending the need to protect vulnerable women in single-sex spaces.
“After Tuesday’s outburst came the silence from Keir Starmer’s office.
“It was as if I didn’t exist — but, then, perhaps the leader’s office wishes I didn’t.” Ms Duffield’s 2017 electoral triumph saw Canterbury wrested from Tory hands for the first time in almost 100 years when she unseated Sir Julian Brazier. She then increased her majority two years later.
But now she says she fears her party may not be “capable of standing up for women”. “[The Labour leadership] think the transgender debate is nothing more than a culture-war issue; a weapon used by the Tories to whip up division. I know that is not the case. “I am a progressive, left-wing MP who cares about women, and wonders whether the party I represent is capable of standing up for them.”
Labour did not respond to a request for comment.