Rishi Sunak's trans jibe provokes condemnation

Rishi Sunak has been widely condemned for making a jibe about Keir Starmer's position on trans issues while the mother of murdered transgender teenager Brianna Ghey was in the House of Commons.

The prime minister was heckled with cries of "shame" and "disgusting" when he accused Keir Starmer of repeatedly changing his position on things, including "defining a woman". Starmer replied: "Of all the weeks to say that, when Brianna's mother is in this chamber. Shame."

Whether driven by "callousness or clumsiness", Sunak's trans jibe is his "new normal", said The Guardian. Whatever motivated the remark on the day Esther Ghey visited Parliament, "as an election looms, we can expect much more of the same", it added.

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Brianna's father, Peter Spooner, has demanded an apology, calling Sunak's words "absolutely dehumanising", said Sky News. For now, No. 10 is refusing to back down, saying the PM's comments were part of a "legitimate" criticism of Labour.

Writing on social media, the minister for women and equalities, Kemi Badenoch, said it was "shameful" of Starmer "to link his own inability to be clear on the matter of sex and gender" to Ghey's grief. She added that "every murder is a tragedy" and "none should be trivialised by political point-scoring".

Ghey was in the Houses of Parliament to attend a debate on mindfulness in schools, organised by her MP, Charlotte Nichols. She also met Starmer after Prime Minister's Questions.