Rishi Sunak has been slammed for mocking Sir Keir Starmer’s stance on “defining a woman” whilst the mother of murdered transgender teenager Brianna Ghey was watching from the gallery at PMQs today.
The Labour leader condemned the Prime Minister’s remark, with a chorus of opposition backbenchers calling out: “Shame.”
Mr Sunak said it was “a bit rich” to hear about promises from someone who broken every single promise he was elected on”.
Sunak listed “pensions, planning, peerages”, among others, before adding that that the Labour leader had u-turned on “defining a woman, although, in fairness, that was only 99 per cent of a u-turn.”
Rishi Sunak made a “joke”about Keir Starmer “defining a woman”…with Brianna Ghey’s mother Esther watching #pmqs from the gallery.
— nazir afzal (@nazirafzal) February 7, 2024
“Of all the days…” says Starmer
The insensitivity is beyond words
We have a callous inhuman Govtpic.twitter.com/EbxjUjMfXa
Mr Starmer replied: “Of all the weeks to say that, when Brianna’s mother is in this chamber. Shame.”
Mr Starmer added that Sunak was “parading as a man of integrity when he has got absolutely no responsibility”, while shouts of shame ran up from the backbenches.
He added: “I think the role of the prime minister is to make sure that every single citizen in this country feels safe and respected, and it’s a shame the prime minister doesn’t share that”.
Despite the Labour leader’s comments - and a request from Labour MP Liz Twist to apologise - the PM has not offered an apology for his comments.
A “brutal” and “sadistic” murder
The girl and a boy who murdered teenager Brianna Ghey were recently jailed for life and given minimum terms of 22 and 20 years before parole.
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 16, carried out the “disturbing” plan to murder Brianna, 16, in a “frenzied and ferocious” knife attack.
The judge said the murder was “brutal” and “sadistic” and that a secondary motive was Brianna’s trans identity.
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