When will Sir Keir Starmer self-identify as a strong leader and support women?
NICOLA STURGEON has staked her political reputation on her controversial gender self-ID law.
So imagine her discomfort as she confirmed that transgender rapist Isla Bryson won’t now be kept in an all-female jail after all — and admitted it would not have been safe to do so.
It’s hard to conceive of a case more damaging to the Scottish First Minister’s beloved Bill.
Even more so as Bryson’s estranged wife, Shonna Graham, suggested Bryson had only self-identified as a woman — after raping two mums — simply to get an easier life inside.
The debacle goes to the heart of women’s fears that, if the UK Government had not moved to block it, evil men might have tried to exploit Sturgeon’s Bill to get access to female-only spaces.
And it goes to the heart of the trans debate — where people tie themselves in knots in the name of virtue-signalling, seemingly going against all common sense.
But if Sturgeon was in a quandary, what about Sir Keir Starmer?
The Scottish Prison Service’s common-sense decision to advise against housing Bryson in a female prison is no get-out-of-jail-free card for the Labour leader, who continues to stubbornly bury his head in the sand on the issue.
While his party tears itself apart, Starmer sits on the fence, desperately trying to fudge and obfuscate, just as he has done for years over Brexit, for fear he might reveal his true views.
Labour MP Rosie Duffield says she finds it “really scary” that her boss has not been able to say if he believes a woman can have a penis.
And poor Rosie was heckled and jeered in the House of Commons by her own MPs when she tried to stand up for women’s rights.
Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle barracked and intimidated her and former minister Ben Bradshaw was heard shouting “absolute rubbish” as Duffield rightly defended the need for spaces “segregated by sex”.
Starmer’s response?
He called for differing opinions on gender to be treated with “respect and tolerance”.
Meanwhile, a senior Labour aide was caught on microphone briefing against Duffield and suggesting her constituents wanted her to “spend a bit more time” in their area rather than “hanging out with JK Rowling”.
So, not that tolerant and respectful, then? More like downright patronising.
Would they say this about a male MP, I wonder?
I, for one, do not find her standing up for women’s rights “irritating” and I know many, many other women feel the same.
And surely Duffield’s point has been proved by the Bryson case.
It’s not transphobic for women to feel unsafe in female-only spaces if all that predatory men need to do to access those spaces is to self-identify as women.
So where exactly does Starmer stand?
Nowhere, as usual. He is the palest form of vanilla.
The real problem is that everyone — particularly in the Labour Party — is living in constant fear of being cancelled.
There is growing intolerance for diverging views and a dangerous tendency among some people to believe that the most “right-on” view is correct and must be respected at all costs.
Sir Keir might be measuring curtains for Number 10 — but until women think he takes their rights seriously, is he really fit to be PM?
Salma’s stocking thriller at premiere
WHEN attending the Miami premiere of Magic Mike’s Last Dance last week, movie-goers might have expected to see a fair amount of semi-clad men.
But Salma Hayek ensured she would not be upstaged by any rippling hunks.
The 56-year-old wore what was essentially a body stocking, showing off her jaw-dropping figure.
When asked about his co-star’s outfit, the film’s lead Channing Tatum blushed and said: “I have no comment on this situation.”
For a woman of any age, she looked absolutely fabulous.
No wonder she left him speechless.
It’s not what it seams
POOR Harry Styles.
The superstar suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction at a gig in Los Angeles this week, when his trousers split open to the shock of stunned concert-goers.
To make matters worse, he was performing in front of his childhood crush Jennifer Aniston.
He said: “My trousers ripped.
“I feel I must apologise to a certain few of you right down in the front there.
“I mean, this is a family show.”
Luckily for Harry, a beaming Jennifer didn’t seem to mind.
Stay at home, Harry
APPARENTLY the majority of Brits say Prince Harry should be invited to the King’s Coronation at Westminster Abbey.
A new survey found that 60 per cent believe the Duke of Sussex should be offered a place at the ceremony.
May I ask why? Imagine the awkward faces, the sour grapes.
This is supposed to be a happy occasion.
Please Spare us.
In high spirits
AS we embrace all things Nineties, it seems that cocktails are back in fashion.
Demand for a classic mixed drink is soaring, according to spirits maker Diageo.
And the cosmopolitan, the cranberry and vodka drink favoured by Carrie and Co on Sex And The City, is still popular today.
I have shunned most of the 1990s throwbacks and can guarantee you will NEVER see me in a bucket hat.
But this is one trend I can get on board with.
Cheers!
Cops in rotten system
IT’S enough to make you weep.
As if things were not bad enough for the Met Police at the moment, a serving officer – who was posted in a school in north London – has pleaded guilty to child sex offences.
PC Hussain Chehab, 22, admitted four counts of sexual activity with a girl aged 13-15, three counts of making indecent photographs of a child, and sexual communication with a child.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described the case as “ghastly” – but at this point words do not feel like enough.
The fact remains that a man with a sexual interest in children was not only allowed to join the force, he was then posted to a job at a secondary school serving as, in a grotesque twist, a Safer Schools officer.
The alarm was only raised by the family of a girl who reported she had recently been in a relationship with Chehab, believed to have started when she was 15.
We hear about “bad apples” but with Sir Mark, admitting that three cops are set to face court every WEEK, it’s hard not to feel as if the whole system is rotten.
Total overhaul
I feel awful for all the good police officers who enter the profession for the noblest of reasons.
But I wonder if the drive to recruit so many so quickly over the past few years has led to them letting pretty much anyone who applies in.
This week we learned that Met recruits are being hired without face-to-face interviews that test them on their motives and values.
Surely that is the most basic level of vetting?
And His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Matt Parr, this week warned that ambitious recruitment targets have meant some officers are hired despite being “functionally illiterate”.
I think that the police force needs a total overhaul from a team of outsiders with no vested interest in who stays – and who goes.