Starmer aide labels MP in trans row ‘irritating’

A SENIOR aide of Sir Keir Starmer has been caught branding the Labour MP at the centre of a transgender row “irritating” in a leaked recording.

Matthew Doyle, the party’s director of communications, made the remarks about Rosie Duffield, who has likened being in Labour to an abusive relationship. Ms Duffield was heckled in Parliament last week by male backbenchers from her own party as she welcomed the Government’s move to block a Scottish law allowing people to self-identify aged 16 without a medical certificate.

Labour signalled that Mr Doyle defended her right to speak on the issue, and he denied being critical of the Canterbury MP.

In the leaked audio, which was obtained by the Guido Fawkes website, he can be heard saying: “Fundamentally, is it irritating? Yes. Does it do us any actual damage? No. So therefore it will just be a, you know, Rosie is Rosie sort of thing.”