Truss’s call to ditch Stonewall sparks No10 woke battle
A NEW front has opened up in the woke wars of Whitehall amid a split at No 10 over calls by Liz Truss for the Government to snub the diversity charity Stonewall.
Ms Truss, the Equalities Minister, has told friends that she thinks Whitehall should pull out of the charity’s Diversity Champions scheme, under which employers pay Stonewall for advice on how to implement equality laws and policies. She voiced her opinion after Nancy Kelley, Stonewall’s chief executive, recently likened ‘gender critical’ beliefs to antisemitism.
But The Mail on Sunday understands that 45-year-old Ms Truss’s call has opened an inter-generational divide inside No 10.
Seasoned aides to Boris Johnson including Munira Mirza, 43, the head of the No 10 policy unit, and her husband, adviser Dougie Smith, who is in his 50s, are believed to back Ms Truss as part of wider action against ‘wokery’.
But younger advisers, such as thirtysomething Henry Newman, are understood to have urged restraint over Stonewall, which battles discrimination against homosexuals.
Mr Johnson – who was a critic of political correctness during his career as a journalist – tried to tread a careful line through the issues. Despite previously declining the chance to back footballers who ‘take the knee’ over racism in the sport by saying that he did not believe in gestures, he said last week that he supported the protest.
He also caused surprise at the
G7 summit by telling fellow world leaders that the UK was looking at ‘gender neutral and feminine ways’ to approach economic recovery following the Covid pandemic.
The Scottish Government confirmed that it has paid Stonewall £24,000 since 2013. In a statement it said: ‘Displaying Stonewall’s Diversity Champions logo sends a strong signal of our commitment to being an inclusive employer.’
Stonewall has faced criticism for its aggressive promotion of a trans rights agenda that has led some public bodies to adopt genderneutral toilets and language, despite protests from women’s groups.
The charity has called for legal changes to allow ‘self-identification’ of gender, meaning a person who was born male could obtain the legal status of a woman simply by describing themselves as female. Many feminist campaigners say that would erode women’s legal rights and jeopardise female-only services, including prisons.
Ms Truss is understood to have shelved plans to advise Cabinet colleagues to withdraw their ministries from the Stonewall scheme.
Many Tory backbenchers see challenging the trans rights agenda as a way to connect with voters. One said: ‘This is the sort of issue where we should be making clear we are on the side of voters who know men are men and women are women. There’s nothing “transphobic” about that, it’s a biological fact. Groups like Stonewall just promote a woke agenda based on their own politics.’