Rishi Sunak’s dig at trans people during prime minister’s questions has left social media in shock.
The prime minister tried to criticise Keir Starmer by suggesting he does not know what a woman is, while the mother of murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey was in the room.
The incident occurred just after the Labour leader opened his own speech by welcoming Brianna Ghey’s mother Esther to the Commons viewing seats.
Starmer praised her for her “unwavering bravery”, adding: “I’m glad she’s here with us in the gallery here today.”
Two 16-year-olds were convicted of murdering Esther Ghey’s 16-year-old daughter last week.
Shortly after Starmer’s opening statement, Sunak criticised his opponent for his supposed flip-flopping over various policies – particularly when it came to “defining a woman”.
The PM added: “In fairness, that was only 99.9% of a U-turn.”
This is a reference to a remark from Starmer last April, when he said 99.9% of women “of course haven’t got a penis” amid a discussion on trans rights.
While the Tory frontbenchers laughed at Sunak’s comment, Starmer stood up and said: “Of all the weeks to say that – when Brianna’s mother is in this chamber. Shame. Parading as a man of integrity....”
Later in PMQs, Labour MP Liz Twist asked Sunak to apologise for “Brianna Ghey’s mother for his insensitive comment”, but the PM ignored the request.
In his closing remarks of PMQs, the PM did add: “If I could just say also to Brianna Ghey’s mum, as I said earlier this week, what happened was an unspeakable and shocking tragedy.
“As I said earlier this week, in the face of that, her mother to show the compassion and empathy she did last weekend, I thought she demonstrated the very best of humanity in the face of the very worst of humanity, and she deserves all of admiration and praise for that.”
But, X (formerly Twitter) was soon flooded with horrified reactions to his initial comment – and lack of apology.
Opposition MPs also slammed Sunak’s remarks.