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The Labour Party has a woman problem I know how it feels to be in an abusive relationship

After Tuesday’s outburst, came the silence. (Rosie Duffield)

After Tuesday’s outburst, came the silence. (Rosie Duffield)


January 20, 2023   6 mins

Domestic abuse is about control and power and silencing someone. It can take many forms. A text. A glance. A threat disguised as a promise. The idea is to manipulate you; to paralyse you.

I have lived through an abusive relationship and have spoken about it in Parliament. I was reminded of making that speech earlier this week — the daily trauma that inspired it, how hard it was to make and, afterwards, the overwhelming support of my colleagues. That was the Labour Party I joined.

On Tuesday, when two of those colleagues traded that sympathy for aggression, shouting down women in the Chamber, it felt like a very different Labour Party. I was defending the need to protect vulnerable women in single-sex spaces, and had just criticised Scotland’s Gender Reform Bill, when Ben Bradshaw yelled his disapproval at me. Sitting nearby, Lloyd Russell-Moyle went puce — perhaps less surprising — and started to heckle every woman who spoke of their similar concerns. Later, when Miriam Cates, a Conservative MP and friend, spoke of her concerns around safeguarding, he accused her of being a bigot before crossing over to the Tory side of the Chamber to sit on the side benches, very close to her, staring as if to intimidate her.

“I recognise that I failed to control [my] passion”, was how he later “apologised”. In other words, he had done nothing wrong. It wasn’t his fault; it was ours for daring to disagree with him. “Look what you made me do,” as my ex-partner would say when I had caused him to explode — perhaps by doing or wearing something he didn’t entirely like or voicing an opinion he didn’t want to hear.

After Tuesday’s outburst, came the silence. Not from Russell-Moyle, but from Keir Starmer’s office. It’s a cycle I’ve come to know well. First, speak up in defence of women’s sex-based rights. And then, face the consequences. Alone.

The only message I’ve had from the Party since the debate was from the Deputy Whips’ office yesterday — I was chastised for not attending a routine Statutory Instruments Committee sitting because… I was busy being shouted down by two Labour MPs and completely forgot. To be fair, Emily Thornberry, shadow Attorney General, did come out and say that the debate wasn’t “Labour’s finest hour”, before clarifying that this was because it distracted from “the most vulnerable in society, who are trans people”. Keir, meanwhile, said nothing. It was as if I didn’t exist — but, then, perhaps the Leader’s Office wishes I didn’t.

I should have been the perfect Labour MP. I was a single mum. I was on benefits, which topped up my salary as a Teaching Assistant. I understood hardship, and what ordinary women wanted and needed from politics. The year before I was elected, I earned less than £10,000. On my first day in Westminster, I had to borrow money to pay for the train fare. I was a woman who knew what struggle meant. And I was a Member of Parliament, having turned a “True Blue” Tory seat Red for the first time in history.

So, what did the Labour Party make of my historic win? Well, it was exciting at first. My face was plastered on all the Big Screens at conference. They showed a film of my victory. When Labour’s leading men, such as Jeremy Corbyn, Len McClusky or Ian McNichol joyfully exclaimed “We won Canterbury!”, there were cheers and a standing ovation. They all used that victory in their speeches, but I rarely heard mention of my name. Not one of them had been to Canterbury to campaign. Nobody in the Party had expected me to win. The total outsider, the only red dot in a sea of blue, was only here because of the swell of Corbyn mania. Two years on, when that bubble burst with the Party’s crushing defeat and the rejection of Corbyn, my tiny majority increased ten times.

Then I liked a tweet.

It was fairly innocuous: Piers Morgan had replied “Do you mean women?” to a tweet advising “individuals with a cervix” to get screened for cancer. I think I probably knew there was a chance it would cause me some trouble, but it seemed a safe way to enter this debate publicly. That’s when the floodgates really opened. Faced with a tsunami of online vitriol, including calls for my job and even my life, I then posted a tweet of my own, asking why it was “transphobic” to say that only women have a cervix. What happened next was a blur. I received more threats. The alarm bells went off in Pink News that another Terf was in town (happy to be part of the gang!). Owen Jones issued a grovelling apology for attending my election rally (not as sorry as I am!), while seemingly every Labour university student group called on the Party to stop me being an MP (obviously not students of how politics works!).

But from the Labour Party — silence. They think the transgender debate is nothing more than a culture-war issue. A weapon used by the Tories to whip up division. It is a smokescreen that has nothing to do with women’s rights. Ordinary people don’t care about mixed-sex changing rooms. Or the prospect of men entering women’s refuges. Or the erasure of the word “cervix”. What this debate is really about, women are told, is bigotry and prejudice.

I know that is not the case.

Then I think of the flowers. After I liked that tweet and started to speak up, the flowers started to arrive: more than 350 bunches in just two days. And there were messages. Thousands of them. From women and men telling me they were grateful for somebody speaking out. From people who voted Labour, Tory, Lib Dem and Green. Every day, survivors of domestic violence still message me, telling me not to stop. Keir may dismiss this as a culture-war issue, but for these women, it is most definitely not.

And I know I’m not the only MP in the party who thinks this — I’m just the only one who feels I have nothing to lose by speaking out. After all, there’s no front-bench job offer for the only Labour MP in my county. Many of us know that self-identifying as a woman does not make a person a biological woman who shares our lived experience. But for obvious reasons, these views are not voiced outside of closed rooms or private and secret WhatsApp groups. Even there, the most senior MPs often do not post a single word; they know exactly what’s at stake and not many of them want to be me. So for now, they mostly remain silent.

For all of Corbyn’s faults — and I was an outspoken critic of all of them — his party’s General Secretary, Jennie Formby, came to every meeting of the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party that she was invited to, even when she was going through chemotherapy. David Evans, her replacement, has been two or three times, yet we are the biggest group in the Party, the largest group of women in Parliament, and we all won or held onto our seats against the odds in 2019. Who knows? Perhaps we may even know a thing or two about politics or winning? (His suggestion that us ladies would do well to read the latest doorstep scripts written by staff didn’t exactly go down well.)

Is it starting to look like Labour has a women problem? It certainly is for the 7,000-strong group of women members, councillors and activists who make up Labour Women’s Declaration and had a stall at last year’s party conference refused. It is for Lesbian Labour, who were also stopped from exhibiting at last year’s conference. It is for Dr Karen Ingala-Smith, the formidable feminist campaigner who compiles a list of women killed in the UK each year which is then read out in Parliament by Jess Phillips every International Women’s Day, and who had her membership rejected after she made a few gender-critical joke tweets featuring kittens. And of course it is for me, ostracised for voicing not only my own opinions but those of thousands of others who are starting to question the Party they have dedicated so much of their lives to.

In each case, a woman who dared to voice an opinion was ignored or neglected. One of the traits of being in an abusive relationship is “stonewalling”. The abuser will go quiet for days on end. They will stew, not speak to you, turn their back on you. Trust me when I say I don’t take this lightly: but what I feel now, after six years of being cold-shouldered by the Labour Party, conjures memories of how I felt in that abusive relationship. When I come home at night, I feel low-level trauma at my political isolation.

Sitting on the front bench with Keir are MPs who defended Corbyn or remained silent when the rest of us were calling him out for antisemitism. Sitting on our front bench is an MP who was voted in as a Conservative. Not sitting on the front bench, however, is a single MP who believes that biological sex can’t be erased at the stroke of a pen. To go into a workplace, when nothing you say or experience as a politician or a woman is of any worth — what’s progressive about that?

I may not be quite as radical a feminist as my wonderful friend Julie Bindel, but what I am is a progressive, Left-wing MP who cares about ordinary women, and now wonders whether the party I represent is capable of standing up for them. I am not going to join the Conservatives, or the Lib Dems or the Greens. But this party doesn’t always feel like home. In 2019, it was hard enough trying to convince my constituents that Labour wasn’t antisemitic. In the next election, when they inevitably ask whether Labour is sexist, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do the same.


Rosie Duffield is Labour MP for Canterbury

RosieDuffield1

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Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago

The author should absolutely be celebrated. She has overcome extremely challenging circumstances. A working class woman, an abusive relationship and she manages to steal a seat for Labour.

I’m not sure I’ll ever understand the deference, and attention paid to the trans movement. At the very most, they represent 0.5% of the population. If you squint really hard, their fanatical supporters maybe bring this total to 10%.

Treat them with respect of course, but why bend the knee? Their actual influence on an election campaign is negligible. I just don’t get it.

Ultimately, Labour no longer represents the working class. Neither do the Tories. Duffield, like most people in Britain, are on the outside looking in.

Sam Hill
Sam Hill
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

This seems to me to be the main point. In the article she says, ‘I should have been the perfect Labour MP. I was a single mum. I was on benefits, which topped up my salary as a Teaching Assistant.’ I have to wonder what exactly about the modern Labour party made her think this. The modern Labour Party is identity obsessed and the ideas of ‘progress’ stem from there. What Rosie is talking about here is all a bit passe.
In fairness to Labour it is confronting the problems of demographic change that bedevil all parties. We don’t have a working class any more, or at least not in any sense of that term that my grandparents would have understood. What we have is a ‘coping class’ or a ‘precarious class.’ What would help these people – secure work, a reduction of wage arbitrage from foreign coolie labour, not having to hand over half their take-home to a BTL landlord and such like.
Identitarian thinking is Labour’s equivalent of Conservative euroscepticism – a gruesome form of displacement activity that acts as a substitute for hard thought about coping class interests and how to go about actively helping them. Identity politics, like euroscepticism, has the triple advantage of being free, social media friendly and open-ended. Terrible for our politics of course.
As admirable as this article and Ms Duffield are it is hard for me to avoid the faint suspicion that she looked at the Labour Party and simply saw what she wanted to see.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Sam Hill

Excellent post. I think the working class has changed, but it’s still a massive cohort. It would include traditional blue collar workers, small business owners and employees, and all the non-management people in the service industry.

As for policy, reducing housing costs and promoting home ownership would be top of the list. Reducing energy costs should be a priority as well. Britain and all of Europe have the highest energy costs in the world. It’s a huge drag on industry. Some of this is lack of resources, but a lot of it is self inflicted as well.

John Howes
John Howes
1 year ago
Reply to  Sam Hill

Possibly Rosie tinted spectacles?

Martin Terrell
Martin Terrell
1 year ago
Reply to  Sam Hill

Good point. Neither Labour nor Tory will change to meet their voters’ concerns. Labour has pursued identity politics precisely because it sees no future or interest in a working class voter base. It is more than displacement activity though, it is the main activity.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Sam Hill

Excellent post. I think the working class has changed, but it’s still a massive cohort. It would include traditional blue collar workers, small business owners and employees, and all the non-management people in the service industry.

As for policy, reducing housing costs and promoting home ownership would be top of the list. Reducing energy costs should be a priority as well. Britain and all of Europe have the highest energy costs in the world. It’s a huge drag on industry. Some of this is lack of resources, but a lot of it is self inflicted as well.

John Howes
John Howes
1 year ago
Reply to  Sam Hill

Possibly Rosie tinted spectacles?

Martin Terrell
Martin Terrell
1 year ago
Reply to  Sam Hill

Good point. Neither Labour nor Tory will change to meet their voters’ concerns. Labour has pursued identity politics precisely because it sees no future or interest in a working class voter base. It is more than displacement activity though, it is the main activity.

Graeme Kemp
Graeme Kemp
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Yes, most of the contemporary Labour Party is pretty grim, as we saw in the recent debate.

Mr Sketerzen Bhoto
Mr Sketerzen Bhoto
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

It isn’t people with actually diagnosed dysphoria that are the problem, it’s the, often elite, kids who consider themselves trans or non binary. I think 30% of Cambridge undergraduates do so.

What’s in it for them? Suddenly they go from being privileged white, most often male and upper class to bring the “most discriminated group in history”.

There’s no penalty for this either, no need for surgery as there’s no actual dysphoria
– although the odd transwoman will wear a wig.

This is the real gaslighting of history – upper class men in dresses are not the oppressed group in history that they claim to be, far from it.

Last edited 1 year ago by Mr Sketerzen Bhoto
Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago

It’s kinda creepy to see some of the most privileged people in the history of the world perform the mental gymnastics necessary to claim victimhood.

Still, I would think trans people and their most ardent supporters would highly concentrated geographically – university towns, the urban centres of the largest cities. Any electoral power should be concentrated in only a few areas.

Samir Iker
Samir Iker
1 year ago

“upper class men in dresses are not the oppressed group in history that they claim to be,”
Replace “men” in that sentence with “women” and that sentence still holds true.
And the tactics and ideologies followed by both groups are ironically similar.

Those opposing the trans lobby are being shouted down and cancelled exactly the same way as feminists do with someone suggesting men and women are different, and there may be biological reasons men earn more in sports, or do better in tech or maths.

Jon Barrow
Jon Barrow
1 year ago
Reply to  Samir Iker

Yes the Enlightenment ‘blank slate’ idea has now reached a point where group differences (not all – who criticises the success of black athletes?)are put down to discrimination, which in the modern West is at an all time low (some groups, eg progressive whites, even showing out-group preference).

Jon Barrow
Jon Barrow
1 year ago
Reply to  Samir Iker

Yes the Enlightenment ‘blank slate’ idea has now reached a point where group differences (not all – who criticises the success of black athletes?)are put down to discrimination, which in the modern West is at an all time low (some groups, eg progressive whites, even showing out-group preference).

Emmanuel MARTIN
Emmanuel MARTIN
1 year ago

Thanks. You short comment is the simplest and most accurate analysis of the new trans identity activism dynamics

Last edited 1 year ago by Emmanuel MARTIN
Christopher Chantrill
Christopher Chantrill
1 year ago

Really, it’s pretty clever. In the Allyship narrative you can either be an Ally, fighting for the Oppressed Peoples against the White Oppressors. Or you can be an Oppressed People.
And why not be an Oppressed People du jour and have a bit of fun while you are at Uni? Time enough after you graduate to become a Noble Ally.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago

It’s kinda creepy to see some of the most privileged people in the history of the world perform the mental gymnastics necessary to claim victimhood.

Still, I would think trans people and their most ardent supporters would highly concentrated geographically – university towns, the urban centres of the largest cities. Any electoral power should be concentrated in only a few areas.

Samir Iker
Samir Iker
1 year ago

“upper class men in dresses are not the oppressed group in history that they claim to be,”
Replace “men” in that sentence with “women” and that sentence still holds true.
And the tactics and ideologies followed by both groups are ironically similar.

Those opposing the trans lobby are being shouted down and cancelled exactly the same way as feminists do with someone suggesting men and women are different, and there may be biological reasons men earn more in sports, or do better in tech or maths.

Emmanuel MARTIN
Emmanuel MARTIN
1 year ago

Thanks. You short comment is the simplest and most accurate analysis of the new trans identity activism dynamics

Last edited 1 year ago by Emmanuel MARTIN
Christopher Chantrill
Christopher Chantrill
1 year ago

Really, it’s pretty clever. In the Allyship narrative you can either be an Ally, fighting for the Oppressed Peoples against the White Oppressors. Or you can be an Oppressed People.
And why not be an Oppressed People du jour and have a bit of fun while you are at Uni? Time enough after you graduate to become a Noble Ally.

AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The author has clearly not learned all of the lessons she needed to learn from her past experiences of abusive relationships. This article and all her speeches are the equivalent of an abused partner thinking that if they just express themselves well enough, that their abuser will apologise and stop abusing them. This never works.

The hardest lesson when recovering from dysfunctional and abusive relationships is accepting responsibility for sustaining the abusive relationships. I’ve had to learn this lesson, and it’s one that is hard to learn when stuffed full of left wing and feminist ideas of victimhood, because they claim this is blaming the victim and view personal responsibility as a right wing concept.

The individuals in labour who are treating her with contempt, whether they be male or female, are not going to turn around and suddenly be good people, she has to leave labour rather than wait for them to kick her if she is to have any hope of overcoming this hurdle in her recovery from abusive relationships. She is enabling their abuse of not only her, but of many others, and by remaining a labour MP she is actually contributing to their political power to inflict their toxic ideas on the entire populace.

I wish her every bit of luck in this process, I am not unsympathetic to how hard it is to break the ingrained behaviours that lead people into cycles of abusive relationships, but I will not pretend that feminism doesn’t contribute to women failing to overcome this final hurdle in their recovery from abuse, because I’ve lived it.

Last edited 1 year ago by AL Crowe
susie Gilchrist
susie Gilchrist
1 year ago
Reply to  AL Crowe

Susie Gilchrist
Hold on a second! Putting Rosie Duffy and Andrew Bridgen in the same box is both ridiculous and insulting! Bridgen is an anti vaxxer ( sort of ok with that) who compared the vaccine rollout to the genocide of the holocaust which is both anti reason and anti Semitic; Rosie Duffield is a woman who knows the difference between a p***s and a cervix, who has suffered the controlling oppression of domestic abuse, and has consistently had the courage to stand up and be counted. Somebody earlier in these comments had the temerity to suggest that victims of domestic abuse were ‘conniving’ with their abusers by not ‘accepting responsibility’. These attitudes are exactly why we need the Rosie Duffields of this world. And I’m not even a labour voter!! But I am a middle class woman (aged 75 is you’re interested!). By the way, ‘upper class women’ – whatever they are these days – couldn’t give a monkeys **** about the whole trans debate.

susie Gilchrist
susie Gilchrist
1 year ago
Reply to  AL Crowe

Susie Gilchrist
Hold on a second! Putting Rosie Duffy and Andrew Bridgen in the same box is both ridiculous and insulting! Bridgen is an anti vaxxer ( sort of ok with that) who compared the vaccine rollout to the genocide of the holocaust which is both anti reason and anti Semitic; Rosie Duffield is a woman who knows the difference between a p***s and a cervix, who has suffered the controlling oppression of domestic abuse, and has consistently had the courage to stand up and be counted. Somebody earlier in these comments had the temerity to suggest that victims of domestic abuse were ‘conniving’ with their abusers by not ‘accepting responsibility’. These attitudes are exactly why we need the Rosie Duffields of this world. And I’m not even a labour voter!! But I am a middle class woman (aged 75 is you’re interested!). By the way, ‘upper class women’ – whatever they are these days – couldn’t give a monkeys **** about the whole trans debate.

Wesley Rawlings
Wesley Rawlings
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Trans ideology is American and a key plank of modern US foreign policy. Western countries who do not bend the knee to the hegemon will pay the price, as the likes of Poland are now experiencing. In the long run it’s unlikely the UK will be able to escape the adoption of these new American norms.

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
1 year ago

Yes, it is right here:
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/transforming-u-s-foreign-policy-ensure-dignity-rights-lgbti-people/
LGBQT issues have been equated with human rights violations. which means that the sexual ideologues in charge have a new pretext with which to invade other countries.

Janet G
Janet G
1 year ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

That acronym is made up of the powerful few (QT) and those who have been conscripted to the cause without their consent or active engagement (LGB). Every time you use the full acronym you affirm the forced amalgamation. Have you heard of those who have seceded (LGB Alliance, for example)?

Sue Frisby
Sue Frisby
1 year ago
Reply to  Janet G

I agree. I’m not clear why they ever got put together. Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual refers to who a person is sexually attracted to. ‘Trans’ is something else altogether.

Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago
Reply to  Sue Frisby

They got together because they were an ideological alliance against traditional modes of existence.

Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago
Reply to  Sue Frisby

They got together because they were an ideological alliance against traditional modes of existence.

Douglas H
Douglas H
1 year ago
Reply to  Janet G

It’s a good point. What you describe is “forced teaming” and some lesbians and gay men have had enough of it.

Sue Frisby
Sue Frisby
1 year ago
Reply to  Janet G

I agree. I’m not clear why they ever got put together. Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual refers to who a person is sexually attracted to. ‘Trans’ is something else altogether.

Douglas H
Douglas H
1 year ago
Reply to  Janet G

It’s a good point. What you describe is “forced teaming” and some lesbians and gay men have had enough of it.

Janet G
Janet G
1 year ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

That acronym is made up of the powerful few (QT) and those who have been conscripted to the cause without their consent or active engagement (LGB). Every time you use the full acronym you affirm the forced amalgamation. Have you heard of those who have seceded (LGB Alliance, for example)?

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
1 year ago

Yes, it is right here:
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/transforming-u-s-foreign-policy-ensure-dignity-rights-lgbti-people/
LGBQT issues have been equated with human rights violations. which means that the sexual ideologues in charge have a new pretext with which to invade other countries.

mike otter
mike otter
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

People may recall quite a few football hooligans and general mis-wired thugs from the heavier youth tribes ( skins, bikers etc) ended up in hunt saboteurs, SWP and even “peace camps”, usually via their girlfriends. In some cases it was the saving of them – the scraps with the cops, security or the country set were a thrill but it did turn some fighters into thinkers. In other cases they were not up for change and i expect their paramours would gladly have swapped them for an undercover cop once Mr Poo and Mr Fan got together. I think Bradshaw and especially Moyle come from this mold but are a weaker cast and should in theory know better. Only when you realise you can’t control someone elses behaviour can you accept that “look what you made me do” is not only an excuse, it’s a pretty lame one too.

Last edited 1 year ago by mike otter
Katy Hibbert
Katy Hibbert
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I’m not sure I’ll ever understand the deference, and attention paid to the trans movement

It’s like the deference paid to the Black Lives Matter thugtards, or the so-called “Palestinian” splodeydopes and other adherents of the viciously, murderously misogynist “Religion of Peace”, or the squawking animals of “gangsta” rap. Women’s rights are very low priority for leftards.
Islam, black “grievances” and black “culture”, and tranny power are ways of putting the genie of women’s liberation back in the bottle, which Labour want to do, lest the more intelligent women become Conservative. Thatcher would have been on Duffield’s side.

Last edited 1 year ago by Katy Hibbert
Christopher Barclay
Christopher Barclay
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The trans movement seeks to defy science. This is why they are supported. So that logic, evidence and argument can be trumped by feelings on any other issue.

Alison Tyler
Alison Tyler
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I do so agree, but own daughter thinks all of those things of me as well, that I am transphobic, etc. Very sad .

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Alison Tyler

That’s awful Alison. Can you have nuanced conversation with her? Maybe discuss the difference between respecting the rights of trans people, as opposed to having trans ideology imposed on others.

I heard a good comment the other day. If a trans person (adult of course) is not willing to go all the way and get it cut off, why should they be allowed in a girls washroom.

This doesn’t address issues like trans people competing in female sports, but it’s a reasonable middle ground we should all support.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Alison Tyler

That’s awful Alison. Can you have nuanced conversation with her? Maybe discuss the difference between respecting the rights of trans people, as opposed to having trans ideology imposed on others.

I heard a good comment the other day. If a trans person (adult of course) is not willing to go all the way and get it cut off, why should they be allowed in a girls washroom.

This doesn’t address issues like trans people competing in female sports, but it’s a reasonable middle ground we should all support.

Andrew Green
Andrew Green
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Nobody seems to remember that Starmer led the Crown Prosecution Service when:
thousands of girls were raped and sexually abused by Pakistani origin men and the police did nothing;the “Operation Midland” case when Leon Brittan et al were accused of paedophilia by one Carl Beech whose allegations were believed without any investigation by the police; andJimmy Savile was eventually accused and convicted of abusing 72 boys and girls and raping 8 in 2016
Starmer “apologised” for Savile, but subsequently considered that he had not needed to. Yet as head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Starmer surely would have set the scene. He has also “apologised” of course for the Corbyn anti semitism years, but he now leads the Labour Party. He is the problem.

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Unfortunately treating them with respect has got us into a terrible mess, so I think we have to start treating them with disrespect.

Sam Hill
Sam Hill
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

This seems to me to be the main point. In the article she says, ‘I should have been the perfect Labour MP. I was a single mum. I was on benefits, which topped up my salary as a Teaching Assistant.’ I have to wonder what exactly about the modern Labour party made her think this. The modern Labour Party is identity obsessed and the ideas of ‘progress’ stem from there. What Rosie is talking about here is all a bit passe.
In fairness to Labour it is confronting the problems of demographic change that bedevil all parties. We don’t have a working class any more, or at least not in any sense of that term that my grandparents would have understood. What we have is a ‘coping class’ or a ‘precarious class.’ What would help these people – secure work, a reduction of wage arbitrage from foreign coolie labour, not having to hand over half their take-home to a BTL landlord and such like.
Identitarian thinking is Labour’s equivalent of Conservative euroscepticism – a gruesome form of displacement activity that acts as a substitute for hard thought about coping class interests and how to go about actively helping them. Identity politics, like euroscepticism, has the triple advantage of being free, social media friendly and open-ended. Terrible for our politics of course.
As admirable as this article and Ms Duffield are it is hard for me to avoid the faint suspicion that she looked at the Labour Party and simply saw what she wanted to see.

Graeme Kemp
Graeme Kemp
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Yes, most of the contemporary Labour Party is pretty grim, as we saw in the recent debate.

Mr Sketerzen Bhoto
Mr Sketerzen Bhoto
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

It isn’t people with actually diagnosed dysphoria that are the problem, it’s the, often elite, kids who consider themselves trans or non binary. I think 30% of Cambridge undergraduates do so.

What’s in it for them? Suddenly they go from being privileged white, most often male and upper class to bring the “most discriminated group in history”.

There’s no penalty for this either, no need for surgery as there’s no actual dysphoria
– although the odd transwoman will wear a wig.

This is the real gaslighting of history – upper class men in dresses are not the oppressed group in history that they claim to be, far from it.

Last edited 1 year ago by Mr Sketerzen Bhoto
AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The author has clearly not learned all of the lessons she needed to learn from her past experiences of abusive relationships. This article and all her speeches are the equivalent of an abused partner thinking that if they just express themselves well enough, that their abuser will apologise and stop abusing them. This never works.

The hardest lesson when recovering from dysfunctional and abusive relationships is accepting responsibility for sustaining the abusive relationships. I’ve had to learn this lesson, and it’s one that is hard to learn when stuffed full of left wing and feminist ideas of victimhood, because they claim this is blaming the victim and view personal responsibility as a right wing concept.

The individuals in labour who are treating her with contempt, whether they be male or female, are not going to turn around and suddenly be good people, she has to leave labour rather than wait for them to kick her if she is to have any hope of overcoming this hurdle in her recovery from abusive relationships. She is enabling their abuse of not only her, but of many others, and by remaining a labour MP she is actually contributing to their political power to inflict their toxic ideas on the entire populace.

I wish her every bit of luck in this process, I am not unsympathetic to how hard it is to break the ingrained behaviours that lead people into cycles of abusive relationships, but I will not pretend that feminism doesn’t contribute to women failing to overcome this final hurdle in their recovery from abuse, because I’ve lived it.

Last edited 1 year ago by AL Crowe
Wesley Rawlings
Wesley Rawlings
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Trans ideology is American and a key plank of modern US foreign policy. Western countries who do not bend the knee to the hegemon will pay the price, as the likes of Poland are now experiencing. In the long run it’s unlikely the UK will be able to escape the adoption of these new American norms.

mike otter
mike otter
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

People may recall quite a few football hooligans and general mis-wired thugs from the heavier youth tribes ( skins, bikers etc) ended up in hunt saboteurs, SWP and even “peace camps”, usually via their girlfriends. In some cases it was the saving of them – the scraps with the cops, security or the country set were a thrill but it did turn some fighters into thinkers. In other cases they were not up for change and i expect their paramours would gladly have swapped them for an undercover cop once Mr Poo and Mr Fan got together. I think Bradshaw and especially Moyle come from this mold but are a weaker cast and should in theory know better. Only when you realise you can’t control someone elses behaviour can you accept that “look what you made me do” is not only an excuse, it’s a pretty lame one too.

Last edited 1 year ago by mike otter
Katy Hibbert
Katy Hibbert
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I’m not sure I’ll ever understand the deference, and attention paid to the trans movement

It’s like the deference paid to the Black Lives Matter thugtards, or the so-called “Palestinian” splodeydopes and other adherents of the viciously, murderously misogynist “Religion of Peace”, or the squawking animals of “gangsta” rap. Women’s rights are very low priority for leftards.
Islam, black “grievances” and black “culture”, and tranny power are ways of putting the genie of women’s liberation back in the bottle, which Labour want to do, lest the more intelligent women become Conservative. Thatcher would have been on Duffield’s side.

Last edited 1 year ago by Katy Hibbert
Christopher Barclay
Christopher Barclay
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The trans movement seeks to defy science. This is why they are supported. So that logic, evidence and argument can be trumped by feelings on any other issue.

Alison Tyler
Alison Tyler
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I do so agree, but own daughter thinks all of those things of me as well, that I am transphobic, etc. Very sad .

Andrew Green
Andrew Green
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Nobody seems to remember that Starmer led the Crown Prosecution Service when:
thousands of girls were raped and sexually abused by Pakistani origin men and the police did nothing;the “Operation Midland” case when Leon Brittan et al were accused of paedophilia by one Carl Beech whose allegations were believed without any investigation by the police; andJimmy Savile was eventually accused and convicted of abusing 72 boys and girls and raping 8 in 2016
Starmer “apologised” for Savile, but subsequently considered that he had not needed to. Yet as head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Starmer surely would have set the scene. He has also “apologised” of course for the Corbyn anti semitism years, but he now leads the Labour Party. He is the problem.

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Unfortunately treating them with respect has got us into a terrible mess, so I think we have to start treating them with disrespect.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago

The author should absolutely be celebrated. She has overcome extremely challenging circumstances. A working class woman, an abusive relationship and she manages to steal a seat for Labour.

I’m not sure I’ll ever understand the deference, and attention paid to the trans movement. At the very most, they represent 0.5% of the population. If you squint really hard, their fanatical supporters maybe bring this total to 10%.

Treat them with respect of course, but why bend the knee? Their actual influence on an election campaign is negligible. I just don’t get it.

Ultimately, Labour no longer represents the working class. Neither do the Tories. Duffield, like most people in Britain, are on the outside looking in.

Bronwen Saunders
Bronwen Saunders
1 year ago

Time to become an independent then. For me Labour became toxic when Gordon Brown unmasked himself with his “some bigot” remark. Jess Philips did her bit when she guffawed at the idea that men too have legitimate concerns (high suicide rates for example). Then came Thornberry’s sneer, Starmer’s fatuous pandering to the criminal BLM and now this Russell character… God help us!

Jane Awdry
Jane Awdry
1 year ago

I am a great admirer of Rosie D. She is one of the very few people in our political landscape right now who are prepared to declare the Emperor naked. People I used to think were intelligent thinking beings have caved in to emotional blackmail. When a group takes a position of full victimhood, makes a lot of noise about its minority status and ‘vulnerability’, attacks any opposition as ‘hate-speech’ and then hijacks the words ‘be kind’ to its own cause, it becomes fiendishly difficult to voice any disagreement without the group claiming that you’re judgmental, prejudiced, unkind. Add to this a grim self-righteousness & refusal to face evidence and then come the final triumphant hammer blows ‘transphobic’ & ‘bigoted’. No debate, no intelligent conversation, no opposition brooked. And you the transgressor will be ostracised even by your own side, who will close ranks against you. You are tainted by wrongthink.
People in the public eye, especially politicians, want to feel that they are perceived as thoughtful, considerate, generous and yes, kind. So they find themselves unable to contradict an aggressive and often vicious self-styled minority group, even if they have to deny objective reality to do so. It used to be called ‘virtue-signalling’ but now that phrase has been kicked into touch, along with ‘politically correct’, as outdated. But if you look at the actual meaning, it’s perfectly apt. People want to be seen to be doing good. Not sticking it to people who are being ‘stigmatised’. It looks bad.
So putting your head above the parapet – in this case, to protect the rights of women to remain a sex class of their own – means taking blows aimed directly to the idea of your own decency, and not many people of any sector of society are prepared to do that. Let alone politicians or celebrities.

Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart
1 year ago
Reply to  Jane Awdry

But she’s a brave fool for thinking the Labour ideology will change to support women. You leave an abusive relationship.

Charles Hedges
Charles Hedges
1 year ago
Reply to  Jane Awdry

Brilliant post.

Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart
1 year ago
Reply to  Jane Awdry

But she’s a brave fool for thinking the Labour ideology will change to support women. You leave an abusive relationship.

Charles Hedges
Charles Hedges
1 year ago
Reply to  Jane Awdry

Brilliant post.

Jane Awdry
Jane Awdry
1 year ago

I am a great admirer of Rosie D. She is one of the very few people in our political landscape right now who are prepared to declare the Emperor naked. People I used to think were intelligent thinking beings have caved in to emotional blackmail. When a group takes a position of full victimhood, makes a lot of noise about its minority status and ‘vulnerability’, attacks any opposition as ‘hate-speech’ and then hijacks the words ‘be kind’ to its own cause, it becomes fiendishly difficult to voice any disagreement without the group claiming that you’re judgmental, prejudiced, unkind. Add to this a grim self-righteousness & refusal to face evidence and then come the final triumphant hammer blows ‘transphobic’ & ‘bigoted’. No debate, no intelligent conversation, no opposition brooked. And you the transgressor will be ostracised even by your own side, who will close ranks against you. You are tainted by wrongthink.
People in the public eye, especially politicians, want to feel that they are perceived as thoughtful, considerate, generous and yes, kind. So they find themselves unable to contradict an aggressive and often vicious self-styled minority group, even if they have to deny objective reality to do so. It used to be called ‘virtue-signalling’ but now that phrase has been kicked into touch, along with ‘politically correct’, as outdated. But if you look at the actual meaning, it’s perfectly apt. People want to be seen to be doing good. Not sticking it to people who are being ‘stigmatised’. It looks bad.
So putting your head above the parapet – in this case, to protect the rights of women to remain a sex class of their own – means taking blows aimed directly to the idea of your own decency, and not many people of any sector of society are prepared to do that. Let alone politicians or celebrities.

Bronwen Saunders
Bronwen Saunders
1 year ago

Time to become an independent then. For me Labour became toxic when Gordon Brown unmasked himself with his “some bigot” remark. Jess Philips did her bit when she guffawed at the idea that men too have legitimate concerns (high suicide rates for example). Then came Thornberry’s sneer, Starmer’s fatuous pandering to the criminal BLM and now this Russell character… God help us!

j watson
j watson
1 year ago

Thank you for this RD. You’re an inspiration so please stay and fight. Many believe the balance on this will swing back. The moderate Left and Centre is much more where you are, and much more where this Country is. As we know the difficulty in these times is those at either end of the spectrum tend to get more oxygen and the volume they then generate distorts our senses, but only for a while.
We can be kind and understanding to our trans colleagues/friends/neighbours etc and allow them to live as freely and as fufiling a life they choose as possible. But there are some things we must protect and lines that cannot be crossed.

Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart
1 year ago
Reply to  j watson

“Yes please stay” (in this pointless fight that you’ll lose) – yup that’s what the abuser would say too.

Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart
1 year ago
Reply to  j watson

“Yes please stay” (in this pointless fight that you’ll lose) – yup that’s what the abuser would say too.

j watson
j watson
1 year ago

Thank you for this RD. You’re an inspiration so please stay and fight. Many believe the balance on this will swing back. The moderate Left and Centre is much more where you are, and much more where this Country is. As we know the difficulty in these times is those at either end of the spectrum tend to get more oxygen and the volume they then generate distorts our senses, but only for a while.
We can be kind and understanding to our trans colleagues/friends/neighbours etc and allow them to live as freely and as fufiling a life they choose as possible. But there are some things we must protect and lines that cannot be crossed.

Caroline Murray
Caroline Murray
1 year ago

Trans people are not the most vulnerable people in society. The children of the poor are, just as they were in the nineteenth century.

xxx xxxxx
xxx xxxxx
1 year ago

Thank goodness someone has had the nous to say this, and it is absolutely true and overlooked. A particularly vulnerable group therein are the children taken into and kept in care, who are too highly represented in the criminal justice and mental health systems, and insufficiently represented in higher education.

Dominic A
Dominic A
1 year ago

Moreover it’s not ‘the trans’ that is at the heart of the vulnerability, but mental health issues. Confusing the two is actually derogatory to trans people! For example – black people face a fair amount of negative bias, but few would call them ‘vulnerable’ – and those that did would soon be corrected.

R Wright
R Wright
1 year ago

Trans activists claim they are the victim of genocide, when really the number of trannies murdered in England in a given year is one or zero (ironically the digits for binary code). That gives them a lower murder rate than Canada. They are in reality a privileged minority.

xxx xxxxx
xxx xxxxx
1 year ago

Thank goodness someone has had the nous to say this, and it is absolutely true and overlooked. A particularly vulnerable group therein are the children taken into and kept in care, who are too highly represented in the criminal justice and mental health systems, and insufficiently represented in higher education.

Dominic A
Dominic A
1 year ago

Moreover it’s not ‘the trans’ that is at the heart of the vulnerability, but mental health issues. Confusing the two is actually derogatory to trans people! For example – black people face a fair amount of negative bias, but few would call them ‘vulnerable’ – and those that did would soon be corrected.

R Wright
R Wright
1 year ago

Trans activists claim they are the victim of genocide, when really the number of trannies murdered in England in a given year is one or zero (ironically the digits for binary code). That gives them a lower murder rate than Canada. They are in reality a privileged minority.

Caroline Murray
Caroline Murray
1 year ago

Trans people are not the most vulnerable people in society. The children of the poor are, just as they were in the nineteenth century.

Rose D
Rose D
1 year ago

Begs the question: Why do you stay? If Labour was a man – what would you tell yourself?

Steve Murray
Steve Murray
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

It’s a very good point, but i suspect this article may well presage such an outcome, whoever makes the first move.

Bravo, Rosie.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve Murray
Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Murray

Ya. I would think the party whip won’t be thrilled with this development.

John Howes
John Howes
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Conceivably they might wnat to administer a large number of lashes.

John Howes
John Howes
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Conceivably they might wnat to administer a large number of lashes.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Murray

Ya. I would think the party whip won’t be thrilled with this development.

Diane Tasker
Diane Tasker
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

That he was an abuser who made you feel worthless but that his actions – or non-actions – did not define your life or your future.

Linda Hutchinson
Linda Hutchinson
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

The question for her is the same as for me – where should she go?

polidori redux
polidori redux
1 year ago

?? Well obviously not the Labour Party.

AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago

What’s wrong with going independent as an MP? She’s clearly got the support of her constituents, and it seems that her views aren’t represented by her current party or any others, so what is her being part of a larger party actually doing for her besides subjecting her to a lot of grief and abuse?

john freeman
john freeman
1 year ago
Reply to  AL Crowe

Well, she describes herself as Left Wing _ and an independent left-winger will not survive.

Debbie Willmot
Debbie Willmot
1 year ago
Reply to  AL Crowe

Forty thousand plus students in her constituency maybe?

AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago
Reply to  Debbie Willmot

The number of students doesn’t actually matter that much, students in different universities have different levels of political activity, and Canterbury is far less politically extreme than other places.

For example, Brighton has a similar number of students, but an overall population of nearly twice the size of Canterbury, yet is very different politically because the overall populace is filled with political activists and students who go to Brighton go in part because of the city’s reputation for political activism.

Plus, there is no reason to believe that the students have simply voted labour without looking in to anything about their candidates at all. I have no doubt that other left leaning parties will have made every effort to target that student population to try and turn the votes their way, including claiming that RD is transphobic and probably citing the labour members who disavow her too, yet the students have chosen to vote for her in spite of that.

Last edited 1 year ago by AL Crowe
Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Debbie Willmot

Students tend to be pro-trans though.

AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago
Reply to  Debbie Willmot

The number of students doesn’t actually matter that much, students in different universities have different levels of political activity, and Canterbury is far less politically extreme than other places.

For example, Brighton has a similar number of students, but an overall population of nearly twice the size of Canterbury, yet is very different politically because the overall populace is filled with political activists and students who go to Brighton go in part because of the city’s reputation for political activism.

Plus, there is no reason to believe that the students have simply voted labour without looking in to anything about their candidates at all. I have no doubt that other left leaning parties will have made every effort to target that student population to try and turn the votes their way, including claiming that RD is transphobic and probably citing the labour members who disavow her too, yet the students have chosen to vote for her in spite of that.

Last edited 1 year ago by AL Crowe
Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Debbie Willmot

Students tend to be pro-trans though.

john freeman
john freeman
1 year ago
Reply to  AL Crowe

Well, she describes herself as Left Wing _ and an independent left-winger will not survive.

Debbie Willmot
Debbie Willmot
1 year ago
Reply to  AL Crowe

Forty thousand plus students in her constituency maybe?

polidori redux
polidori redux
1 year ago

?? Well obviously not the Labour Party.

AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago

What’s wrong with going independent as an MP? She’s clearly got the support of her constituents, and it seems that her views aren’t represented by her current party or any others, so what is her being part of a larger party actually doing for her besides subjecting her to a lot of grief and abuse?

AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

Learned helplessness is something that keeps a lot of people in dysfunctional and abusive relationships. They worry about losing their homes, losing their children, losing their jobs, etc. Ultimately, nothing is more important than the safety and dignity of individuals and children stuck in abusive situations, and most of these worries turn out to be blown out of proportion due to the damage being in such a situation does to self esteem and self worth.

The same is true of being an MP who remains tied to a dysfunctional and abusive party. Of course going independent is challenging in a number of ways, but I’d argue that her personal dignity and safety is more important, and that by staying in the labour party, she is only enabling their toxic ideas to not only affect her, but granting them more power to inflict these ideas on many more women.

Last edited 1 year ago by AL Crowe
Walter Marvell
Walter Marvell
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

She is brave. I hope she recognises the awful bigger truth that a toxic malevolent mania has captured the Labour Party – and a majority of other politicos of all parties. Trans is just the current flashpoint in a far bigger War. We must recognise that tge UK is in thrall to an Equality Cult. The British State is the Wuhan Lab, unleashing the virus of CRT and a hierarchy of Victimhood into our laws and body politic since 2010 This is why it cannot be stopped. It has spread and mutated to all cultural and artistic life, suffocating, cancelling crushing any form of dissent. It is a pyscho-mania. And it is in you – ALL of us. Think – how alarmed everyone now is in expressing ANY form of possible non equal ‘discrimination’. This is why the rich are despised. Welfarism cherished. Kids are stopped from having losers in egg races. Women soccer plays get same pay as men. All young girls say they are bi rather than be discriminatory in their sex preference. Why the top students are banned from top unis and banks allow 3rd class degrees. On and on it rolls. It is the dominant political force of our Age! Recognise it – so we can move on from the trans firefight to try and stop our social legal cultural and political values being monstered and lost by the anti discriminatory mania. Call it MAD. And fight the Madness.

Steve Murray
Steve Murray
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

It’s a very good point, but i suspect this article may well presage such an outcome, whoever makes the first move.

Bravo, Rosie.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve Murray
Diane Tasker
Diane Tasker
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

That he was an abuser who made you feel worthless but that his actions – or non-actions – did not define your life or your future.

Linda Hutchinson
Linda Hutchinson
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

The question for her is the same as for me – where should she go?

AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

Learned helplessness is something that keeps a lot of people in dysfunctional and abusive relationships. They worry about losing their homes, losing their children, losing their jobs, etc. Ultimately, nothing is more important than the safety and dignity of individuals and children stuck in abusive situations, and most of these worries turn out to be blown out of proportion due to the damage being in such a situation does to self esteem and self worth.

The same is true of being an MP who remains tied to a dysfunctional and abusive party. Of course going independent is challenging in a number of ways, but I’d argue that her personal dignity and safety is more important, and that by staying in the labour party, she is only enabling their toxic ideas to not only affect her, but granting them more power to inflict these ideas on many more women.

Last edited 1 year ago by AL Crowe
Walter Marvell
Walter Marvell
1 year ago
Reply to  Rose D

She is brave. I hope she recognises the awful bigger truth that a toxic malevolent mania has captured the Labour Party – and a majority of other politicos of all parties. Trans is just the current flashpoint in a far bigger War. We must recognise that tge UK is in thrall to an Equality Cult. The British State is the Wuhan Lab, unleashing the virus of CRT and a hierarchy of Victimhood into our laws and body politic since 2010 This is why it cannot be stopped. It has spread and mutated to all cultural and artistic life, suffocating, cancelling crushing any form of dissent. It is a pyscho-mania. And it is in you – ALL of us. Think – how alarmed everyone now is in expressing ANY form of possible non equal ‘discrimination’. This is why the rich are despised. Welfarism cherished. Kids are stopped from having losers in egg races. Women soccer plays get same pay as men. All young girls say they are bi rather than be discriminatory in their sex preference. Why the top students are banned from top unis and banks allow 3rd class degrees. On and on it rolls. It is the dominant political force of our Age! Recognise it – so we can move on from the trans firefight to try and stop our social legal cultural and political values being monstered and lost by the anti discriminatory mania. Call it MAD. And fight the Madness.

Rose D
Rose D
1 year ago

Begs the question: Why do you stay? If Labour was a man – what would you tell yourself?

Albireo Double
Albireo Double
1 year ago

Well put, and Duffield has my sympathy. However if she remains in the Labour party from now on then she will lose that sympathy.. The Labour party now stands for rich entitled illiberal metropolitan “liberals” – very controlling, very nasty and vicious people indeed. Duffield must stand as an independent -and good luck to her.

And as for the fools who subscribe to “gender self-identification”, they will end up being shown up to be gullible dupes, since the entire belief system is based on a fundamental lie.

Last edited 1 year ago by Albireo Double
Albireo Double
Albireo Double
1 year ago

Well put, and Duffield has my sympathy. However if she remains in the Labour party from now on then she will lose that sympathy.. The Labour party now stands for rich entitled illiberal metropolitan “liberals” – very controlling, very nasty and vicious people indeed. Duffield must stand as an independent -and good luck to her.

And as for the fools who subscribe to “gender self-identification”, they will end up being shown up to be gullible dupes, since the entire belief system is based on a fundamental lie.

Last edited 1 year ago by Albireo Double
Alan Hawkes
Alan Hawkes
1 year ago

What an amazing article from an amazing woman. Even as a Conservative I’m happy that there are still MPs of this quality and moral courage, whichever party they represent, even if we might disagree on some other issues.

Alan Hawkes
Alan Hawkes
1 year ago

What an amazing article from an amazing woman. Even as a Conservative I’m happy that there are still MPs of this quality and moral courage, whichever party they represent, even if we might disagree on some other issues.

AC Harper
AC Harper
1 year ago

Labour always end up dropping support for one group (the working man, feminists, the gays) for the next ‘worthy’ victim group to come along. It’s what they do to appear as if they still have any political relevance.
I’m expecting the Muslim groups to start complaining that they have been thrown over for the ‘Trans’.

Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

Literally no chance Labour ditch the ummah for the theybies.

Last edited 1 year ago by Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

Literally no chance Labour ditch the ummah for the theybies.

Last edited 1 year ago by Galvatron Stephens
AC Harper
AC Harper
1 year ago

Labour always end up dropping support for one group (the working man, feminists, the gays) for the next ‘worthy’ victim group to come along. It’s what they do to appear as if they still have any political relevance.
I’m expecting the Muslim groups to start complaining that they have been thrown over for the ‘Trans’.

Diane Tasker
Diane Tasker
1 year ago

Bravo Rosie for speaking up! However I hope you stay as you are a beacon for common sense and no doubt represent those Labour MPs who are otherwise too self-serving and weak to ‘own up’ to feeling much the same. The Labour Party is lost in my opinion, lead by a weak man who dances not only to the Unions’ tune but now can’t work out the difference between the sexes – had you been a transgender woman you would have had his full support Shame on those MPs who sat back and abandoned you. A Roman Ampitheatre comes to mind! If you were a transgender woman you would have had your fellow MP’s – enthusiastically led by Keir – at your feet. ‘They know not what they do’…..

Last edited 1 year ago by Diane Tasker
Diane Tasker
Diane Tasker
1 year ago

Bravo Rosie for speaking up! However I hope you stay as you are a beacon for common sense and no doubt represent those Labour MPs who are otherwise too self-serving and weak to ‘own up’ to feeling much the same. The Labour Party is lost in my opinion, lead by a weak man who dances not only to the Unions’ tune but now can’t work out the difference between the sexes – had you been a transgender woman you would have had his full support Shame on those MPs who sat back and abandoned you. A Roman Ampitheatre comes to mind! If you were a transgender woman you would have had your fellow MP’s – enthusiastically led by Keir – at your feet. ‘They know not what they do’…..

Last edited 1 year ago by Diane Tasker
David Hedley
David Hedley
1 year ago

More power to you, Rosie, and your voice of cool sanity.

David Hedley
David Hedley
1 year ago

More power to you, Rosie, and your voice of cool sanity.

Melissa Martin
Melissa Martin
1 year ago

LRM crossed over and stared at her? After she’d explained how frightening it can be for a woman when a man does that? Something very dark has been unleashed by the State declaring that woman do not objectively exist, in Law.

Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago
Reply to  Melissa Martin

I think Rosie knows, like anyone who has observed LRM, that he is about as threatening as a lettuce leaf.

Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago
Reply to  Melissa Martin

I think Rosie knows, like anyone who has observed LRM, that he is about as threatening as a lettuce leaf.

Melissa Martin
Melissa Martin
1 year ago

LRM crossed over and stared at her? After she’d explained how frightening it can be for a woman when a man does that? Something very dark has been unleashed by the State declaring that woman do not objectively exist, in Law.

Alex Hobson
Alex Hobson
1 year ago

Thank you so much for your courage, Rosie. I can’t imagine how hard this is for you, but I’m so glad you’re standing firm. As a father of three daughters, I’m so grateful to you.

Alex Hobson
Alex Hobson
1 year ago

Thank you so much for your courage, Rosie. I can’t imagine how hard this is for you, but I’m so glad you’re standing firm. As a father of three daughters, I’m so grateful to you.

Malcolm Knott
Malcolm Knott
1 year ago

I know there’s no point in being logical on this trans thing but let’s try it one more time.
We need to exclude transwomen from women’s spaces not because transwomen are predators but because predators will find it easier to locate their prey if they pose as trans.
Got that, Russell-Moyle? Not difficult, is it?

Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago
Reply to  Malcolm Knott

You are completely wrong. We do NOT need to exclude trans identifying men (TIM, sometimes known as transwomen or gender dysphoric men) from women’s spaces because predators…. but because TIM are men NOT women and so should not be in women’s spaces. Just as TIF should not be allowed in men’s spaces.

Malcolm Knott
Malcolm Knott
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob N

We disagree as to the reasoning but we agree they should be excluded.

Malcolm Knott
Malcolm Knott
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob N

We disagree as to the reasoning but we agree they should be excluded.

Mark Walton
Mark Walton
1 year ago
Reply to  Malcolm Knott

And what have the Romans ever done for us. LOB a film way ahead of its time!

Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago
Reply to  Malcolm Knott

You are completely wrong. We do NOT need to exclude trans identifying men (TIM, sometimes known as transwomen or gender dysphoric men) from women’s spaces because predators…. but because TIM are men NOT women and so should not be in women’s spaces. Just as TIF should not be allowed in men’s spaces.

Mark Walton
Mark Walton
1 year ago
Reply to  Malcolm Knott

And what have the Romans ever done for us. LOB a film way ahead of its time!

Malcolm Knott
Malcolm Knott
1 year ago

I know there’s no point in being logical on this trans thing but let’s try it one more time.
We need to exclude transwomen from women’s spaces not because transwomen are predators but because predators will find it easier to locate their prey if they pose as trans.
Got that, Russell-Moyle? Not difficult, is it?

John Howes
John Howes
1 year ago

Amazing, all of the chattering classes, fall over themselves when closet queen Philip Schofield ‘came out’ anticipating he was about to be outed. Applauding his bravery, but when people like Rosie Duffield and JK Rowling et al dissect the hysteria about ‘trans’ persons in a logical and not unkind manner. God help us, the fury.. and the threats of violence and death seem to be accepted without comment. Rosie Duffield is an anathema to the Left, Labour don’t deserve her.

John Howes
John Howes
1 year ago

Amazing, all of the chattering classes, fall over themselves when closet queen Philip Schofield ‘came out’ anticipating he was about to be outed. Applauding his bravery, but when people like Rosie Duffield and JK Rowling et al dissect the hysteria about ‘trans’ persons in a logical and not unkind manner. God help us, the fury.. and the threats of violence and death seem to be accepted without comment. Rosie Duffield is an anathema to the Left, Labour don’t deserve her.

Matt M
Matt M
1 year ago

I’m starting to detect the outline of Rishi Sunak’s plan.

It starts with delivering his 5 pledges this year (inflation halved, growth back, debt/GDP down, NHS waiting lists falling, boats stopped).

Then he says: I’m that rare thing, a politician who does what he promises.

Then they will contrast that with Starmer who flip-flops every two mins – he is for instance, trying to look both ways on this trans issue. I suspect the Tories will look for issues like the SNP’s GR bill where it is hard for Sir Keir to hold the line. You saw it at PMQs this week when Sunak accused Starmer of not only being in favour of free movement of people but also free movement of principles.

Not a bad strategy. I think it stands a reasonable chance of success.

Andy Moore
Andy Moore
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt M

From an economic point of view, I can’t see a difference between the two main parties. The battleground will be on cultural issues, which is long over due. However, I’m not convinced by the Tories, as it currently stands they’re not getting my vote.

Matt M
Matt M
1 year ago
Reply to  Andy Moore

I don’t think anyone is convinced by them! I think Sunak is trying to persuade the country that he delivers what he promises and then hopes the electorate will give him a hearing come the election. And I think Starmer is making it easy for him. Though for Sunak to execute this plan will require a lot of skill and luck.
I agree about cultural issues being the focus of the next election and that this is long over due. It should play into the Tories hands – most normal people have no time for the wokerati, the open borders crowd or the eco-loons.
But the Conservative Party’s capacity to disappoint knows no bounds.

Last edited 1 year ago by Matt M
Matt M
Matt M
1 year ago
Reply to  Andy Moore

I don’t think anyone is convinced by them! I think Sunak is trying to persuade the country that he delivers what he promises and then hopes the electorate will give him a hearing come the election. And I think Starmer is making it easy for him. Though for Sunak to execute this plan will require a lot of skill and luck.
I agree about cultural issues being the focus of the next election and that this is long over due. It should play into the Tories hands – most normal people have no time for the wokerati, the open borders crowd or the eco-loons.
But the Conservative Party’s capacity to disappoint knows no bounds.

Last edited 1 year ago by Matt M
Andy Moore
Andy Moore
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt M

From an economic point of view, I can’t see a difference between the two main parties. The battleground will be on cultural issues, which is long over due. However, I’m not convinced by the Tories, as it currently stands they’re not getting my vote.

Matt M
Matt M
1 year ago

I’m starting to detect the outline of Rishi Sunak’s plan.

It starts with delivering his 5 pledges this year (inflation halved, growth back, debt/GDP down, NHS waiting lists falling, boats stopped).

Then he says: I’m that rare thing, a politician who does what he promises.

Then they will contrast that with Starmer who flip-flops every two mins – he is for instance, trying to look both ways on this trans issue. I suspect the Tories will look for issues like the SNP’s GR bill where it is hard for Sir Keir to hold the line. You saw it at PMQs this week when Sunak accused Starmer of not only being in favour of free movement of people but also free movement of principles.

Not a bad strategy. I think it stands a reasonable chance of success.

Judy Whiteside
Judy Whiteside
1 year ago

My heart went out to Rosie reading this. I wonder though whether the world has got harsher – seems to me the finger jabbing male misogyny has always been there, just bubbling away beneath the surface in some quarters (not, I hasten to add, in all men. By any means). What we used to call an ‘unreconstructed male’. But what surprises me is the willingness of women to collude with it, finger-jabbing their own perfectly manicured nails at their fellow females as they do their damndest to remove any progress we’ve made over the last century or so in the name of women’s rights.

Judy Whiteside
Judy Whiteside
1 year ago

My heart went out to Rosie reading this. I wonder though whether the world has got harsher – seems to me the finger jabbing male misogyny has always been there, just bubbling away beneath the surface in some quarters (not, I hasten to add, in all men. By any means). What we used to call an ‘unreconstructed male’. But what surprises me is the willingness of women to collude with it, finger-jabbing their own perfectly manicured nails at their fellow females as they do their damndest to remove any progress we’ve made over the last century or so in the name of women’s rights.

Claire Landon
Claire Landon
1 year ago

Brava, Rosie!

Claire Landon
Claire Landon
1 year ago

Brava, Rosie!

Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago

Thank you for your article.
Clearly, for Labour women are the new Jews, but it seems they attract less sympathy.
I wish someone explained to me why “trans” people are the most marginalised in society and how declaring one’s sex on a whim is going to improve that.
Anyway, my issue is who to vote for at the next election. Being in Scotland I have Sarwar and now that he has shown his (?) true colours labour is a no go. SNP, lib Dems and greens were never in the running, so I am stuck the the Tory party, and is the Tories are not great south of the border, north of it are even worse.

Last edited 1 year ago by Arkadian X
Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago
Reply to  Arkadian X

Marginalised how exactly? Nobody actually explains that.

Anyway, my comparison is within the Labour party.

Milton Gibbon
Milton Gibbon
1 year ago
Reply to  Arkadian X

As in hold no positions of influence in society. I think it is right that they are marginalised (they have a mental illness that needs care) but this doesn’t mean we can’t be nicer to them.

Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

In what way is one not “nice” to them? Considering there are so few, it is hardly likely can can hold a “position of influence in society”

jmo
jmo
1 year ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

Hold no positions of influence in society?! They dictate terms to MPs, the police, the state broadcaster, the NHS, our educational institutions, museums and galleries, the security services…

Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago
Reply to  jmo

On fairness mora than “trans” people the problem is the trans “allies”.

Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago
Reply to  jmo

On fairness mora than “trans” people the problem is the trans “allies”.

Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

In what way is one not “nice” to them? Considering there are so few, it is hardly likely can can hold a “position of influence in society”

jmo
jmo
1 year ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

Hold no positions of influence in society?! They dictate terms to MPs, the police, the state broadcaster, the NHS, our educational institutions, museums and galleries, the security services…

Milton Gibbon
Milton Gibbon
1 year ago
Reply to  Arkadian X

As in hold no positions of influence in society. I think it is right that they are marginalised (they have a mental illness that needs care) but this doesn’t mean we can’t be nicer to them.

harry storm
harry storm
1 year ago
Reply to  Arkadian X

Jews didn’t attract sympathy until millions were exterminated. Get real.

Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago
Reply to  harry storm

I am talking about the relationship the Labour party has/had with Jews.

harry storm
harry storm
1 year ago
Reply to  Arkadian X

Fair enough then.

harry storm
harry storm
1 year ago
Reply to  Arkadian X

Fair enough then.

Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago
Reply to  harry storm

I am talking about the relationship the Labour party has/had with Jews.

Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago
Reply to  Arkadian X

Marginalised how exactly? Nobody actually explains that.

Anyway, my comparison is within the Labour party.

harry storm
harry storm
1 year ago
Reply to  Arkadian X

Jews didn’t attract sympathy until millions were exterminated. Get real.

Arkadian X
Arkadian X
1 year ago

Thank you for your article.
Clearly, for Labour women are the new Jews, but it seems they attract less sympathy.
I wish someone explained to me why “trans” people are the most marginalised in society and how declaring one’s sex on a whim is going to improve that.
Anyway, my issue is who to vote for at the next election. Being in Scotland I have Sarwar and now that he has shown his (?) true colours labour is a no go. SNP, lib Dems and greens were never in the running, so I am stuck the the Tory party, and is the Tories are not great south of the border, north of it are even worse.

Last edited 1 year ago by Arkadian X
Ben Jones
Ben Jones
1 year ago

Russell-Moyle has the peculiar distinction of making Richard Burgon look almost capable.

Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago
Reply to  Ben Jones

His election speech was a hoot

Jonathan Nash
Jonathan Nash
1 year ago
Reply to  Ben Jones

I find that almost impossible to believe.

Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago
Reply to  Ben Jones

His election speech was a hoot

Jonathan Nash
Jonathan Nash
1 year ago
Reply to  Ben Jones

I find that almost impossible to believe.

Ben Jones
Ben Jones
1 year ago

Russell-Moyle has the peculiar distinction of making Richard Burgon look almost capable.

Stephen Quilley
Stephen Quilley
1 year ago

Rosie _ I sympathize, but only up to a point. Labour has a women problem, a race problem, an anti-semitism problem, a political economy problem, a globalism problem, an iconoclasm problem, an anti-western problem and a very bad case of temporal dysphoria (1940s on the health system, 1970s viz unions, 1917 on utopian collectivism and 2023 vis America race/gender identity politics….. Just leave and join the SDP. A much better outfit all round

polidori redux
polidori redux
1 year ago

Will the SDP put forward a full raft of candidates? I doubt it.
I live in South Cambridgeshire and I am resigned to spoiling my ballot paper.

Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago

The SDP may be better but they are still wrong. Their policy is “Transgender individuals wishing to change their legal sex should be allowed to do so.” while at the same time “We support segregation by biological sex in sport,.prisons and women’s refuges”.
So they say that men can become women but not real women. Ridiculous.
The real answer is, of course and as everyone knew until about 2004, that men cannot be women and vv. Gender Recognition Certificates and all that rubbish are just illogical, unscientific, ridiculous and creepy.

Rasmus Fogh
Rasmus Fogh
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob N

Your logic is flawed. The question is not whether some men can become women – I agree they cannot. The question is whether we should change our access criteria so that some in some cases some men can come where previously only women were allowed. When women were first given access to universities, that does not mean that they became men, did it? On that logic the SDP policy makes perfect sense. It is a bit of a compromise, but what would you expect of the radical centre?

Rasmus Fogh
Rasmus Fogh
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob N

Your logic is flawed. The question is not whether some men can become women – I agree they cannot. The question is whether we should change our access criteria so that some in some cases some men can come where previously only women were allowed. When women were first given access to universities, that does not mean that they became men, did it? On that logic the SDP policy makes perfect sense. It is a bit of a compromise, but what would you expect of the radical centre?

polidori redux
polidori redux
1 year ago

Will the SDP put forward a full raft of candidates? I doubt it.
I live in South Cambridgeshire and I am resigned to spoiling my ballot paper.

Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago

The SDP may be better but they are still wrong. Their policy is “Transgender individuals wishing to change their legal sex should be allowed to do so.” while at the same time “We support segregation by biological sex in sport,.prisons and women’s refuges”.
So they say that men can become women but not real women. Ridiculous.
The real answer is, of course and as everyone knew until about 2004, that men cannot be women and vv. Gender Recognition Certificates and all that rubbish are just illogical, unscientific, ridiculous and creepy.

Stephen Quilley
Stephen Quilley
1 year ago

Rosie _ I sympathize, but only up to a point. Labour has a women problem, a race problem, an anti-semitism problem, a political economy problem, a globalism problem, an iconoclasm problem, an anti-western problem and a very bad case of temporal dysphoria (1940s on the health system, 1970s viz unions, 1917 on utopian collectivism and 2023 vis America race/gender identity politics….. Just leave and join the SDP. A much better outfit all round

Emmanuel MARTIN
Emmanuel MARTIN
1 year ago

Writing such an article requires courage and strength of character. For that, you should earn the respect of your constituents (and mine, if it matters).

Emmanuel MARTIN
Emmanuel MARTIN
1 year ago

Writing such an article requires courage and strength of character. For that, you should earn the respect of your constituents (and mine, if it matters).

Andrew Horsman
Andrew Horsman
1 year ago

Remember that this is the same Russell Lloyd-Moyles who maniacally barricaded himself in an empty first class train carriage after he got a positive covid test, panicking and terrified he might be seen (including by himself) to kill someone. He’s a cultist, a weak-minded, unthinking, rigid ideologue, an ingroup bully terrified of being cast out; and most dangerously of all he is a man ripe for manipulation – as he clearly has been. There is absolutely no way he should be anywhere near any kind of public office and one can only hope that people in Brighton see sense and vote him out.

The same could actually be said of the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, and many others on both sides of the house – including those Tories who have turned on Andrew Brigden for doing his job and standing up for his constituents in the face of overwhelming corporate power.

Those MPs with any integrity left should follow the fine examples set by both Duffield and Brigden and speak up, and say what they really think. At very least, even if they don’t fully agree with them, they should vigorously defend their right to say what they think. Their cowardly silence is deafening and it is suffocating British liberal democracy. They will regret it when the mob turns on them, too, as inevitably it will.

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Andrew Horsman

“At very least, even if they don’t fully agree with them, they should vigorously defend their right to say what they think.”
Thus my attitude towards Bridgen’s case.

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Andrew Horsman

“At very least, even if they don’t fully agree with them, they should vigorously defend their right to say what they think.”
Thus my attitude towards Bridgen’s case.

Andrew Horsman
Andrew Horsman
1 year ago

Remember that this is the same Russell Lloyd-Moyles who maniacally barricaded himself in an empty first class train carriage after he got a positive covid test, panicking and terrified he might be seen (including by himself) to kill someone. He’s a cultist, a weak-minded, unthinking, rigid ideologue, an ingroup bully terrified of being cast out; and most dangerously of all he is a man ripe for manipulation – as he clearly has been. There is absolutely no way he should be anywhere near any kind of public office and one can only hope that people in Brighton see sense and vote him out.

The same could actually be said of the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, and many others on both sides of the house – including those Tories who have turned on Andrew Brigden for doing his job and standing up for his constituents in the face of overwhelming corporate power.

Those MPs with any integrity left should follow the fine examples set by both Duffield and Brigden and speak up, and say what they really think. At very least, even if they don’t fully agree with them, they should vigorously defend their right to say what they think. Their cowardly silence is deafening and it is suffocating British liberal democracy. They will regret it when the mob turns on them, too, as inevitably it will.

Graeme Kemp
Graeme Kemp
1 year ago

Excellent, thoughtful article by Rosie Duffield MP. I really hope she is re-elected in Canterbury – we need her.

Graeme Kemp
Graeme Kemp
1 year ago

Excellent, thoughtful article by Rosie Duffield MP. I really hope she is re-elected in Canterbury – we need her.

harry storm
harry storm
1 year ago

Kellie-Jay Keen summed it up perfectly: “The Conservatives can be sexist; Labour is misogynistic.”

harry storm
harry storm
1 year ago

Kellie-Jay Keen summed it up perfectly: “The Conservatives can be sexist; Labour is misogynistic.”

Katy Hibbert
Katy Hibbert
1 year ago

Keir, meanwhile, said nothing.

Of course he didn’t. Just as he said nothing about the Rotherham Rapists from the Religion of Peace. Women are always second class citizens for Labour. Third, or fourth class perhaps. Way behind BAMEs or trannies.
Lefties don’t like uppity women. They tried to put us down using the Noble Savage card. We’re supposed to respect “Palestinians” and other murderous thugs who rape women and little girls (as their “Prophet” did) and then honour kill the victims for their crimes. We’re supposed to respect vile, vicious woman-hating “gangsta” rap because dey iz black innit. But this didn’t entirely work, especially when the Tories got a whole load of BAME dames in the highest offices of state. So they moved on to the trans-twaddle – any woman who doesn’t want her little girl to be flashed at or worse by a fully grown man in a frock is “transphobic”.
Rosie Duffield should ditch the Labour misogynists and hypocrites. They have ditched her.

Katy Hibbert
Katy Hibbert
1 year ago

Keir, meanwhile, said nothing.

Of course he didn’t. Just as he said nothing about the Rotherham Rapists from the Religion of Peace. Women are always second class citizens for Labour. Third, or fourth class perhaps. Way behind BAMEs or trannies.
Lefties don’t like uppity women. They tried to put us down using the Noble Savage card. We’re supposed to respect “Palestinians” and other murderous thugs who rape women and little girls (as their “Prophet” did) and then honour kill the victims for their crimes. We’re supposed to respect vile, vicious woman-hating “gangsta” rap because dey iz black innit. But this didn’t entirely work, especially when the Tories got a whole load of BAME dames in the highest offices of state. So they moved on to the trans-twaddle – any woman who doesn’t want her little girl to be flashed at or worse by a fully grown man in a frock is “transphobic”.
Rosie Duffield should ditch the Labour misogynists and hypocrites. They have ditched her.

Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago

Rosie’s point only seems to be that, like the SDP, trans identifying men (who like to call themselves transwomen or just women) should not be allowed in some/most women only spaces
True, but they should not be allowed or supported in any of this rubbish that they are women in any sense. They are men and should not be allowed into any women only spaces.

Jon Barrow
Jon Barrow
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob N

The philosophical problem that progressives and more traditional liberals have is that women are posited to be the same as men (when it comes to abilities, expected outcomes, taking part in traditional male activities etc.) but not the same as men (when it comes to protection, female-only spaces etc.). The trans lobby taps into this incoherence and further advances the Blank Slate idea that the liberal elite publically endorses (ie that you can be anything you want to be).

Jon Barrow
Jon Barrow
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob N

The philosophical problem that progressives and more traditional liberals have is that women are posited to be the same as men (when it comes to abilities, expected outcomes, taking part in traditional male activities etc.) but not the same as men (when it comes to protection, female-only spaces etc.). The trans lobby taps into this incoherence and further advances the Blank Slate idea that the liberal elite publically endorses (ie that you can be anything you want to be).

Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago

Rosie’s point only seems to be that, like the SDP, trans identifying men (who like to call themselves transwomen or just women) should not be allowed in some/most women only spaces
True, but they should not be allowed or supported in any of this rubbish that they are women in any sense. They are men and should not be allowed into any women only spaces.

Cynthia W.
Cynthia W.
1 year ago

“I am not going to join the Conservatives, or the Lib Dems or the Greens.”
This is why parties or politicians can act the way they do: because a sufficient percentage of voters will stick with them no matter what.

Josie Bowen
Josie Bowen
1 year ago
Reply to  Cynthia W.

Not joining other parties could be because none of them represent the ideological orientation of the voter, so what’s the point?

Josie Bowen
Josie Bowen
1 year ago
Reply to  Cynthia W.

Not joining other parties could be because none of them represent the ideological orientation of the voter, so what’s the point?

Cynthia W.
Cynthia W.
1 year ago

“I am not going to join the Conservatives, or the Lib Dems or the Greens.”
This is why parties or politicians can act the way they do: because a sufficient percentage of voters will stick with them no matter what.

Samir Iker
Samir Iker
1 year ago

“Women are a material reality and men attack them for it ”
I think you will find it’s “progressive ” upper class women who are the pillar of the trans movement.

Labour is after all supported much more by women than men. And something like 3/4th of college educated 20-30 year old women vote labour. A group that will savagely attack you if you suggest that there is not really any r*pe culture at universities, but happily support the party of Rochdale and Rotherham.

Samir Iker
Samir Iker
1 year ago

“Women are a material reality and men attack them for it ”
I think you will find it’s “progressive ” upper class women who are the pillar of the trans movement.

Labour is after all supported much more by women than men. And something like 3/4th of college educated 20-30 year old women vote labour. A group that will savagely attack you if you suggest that there is not really any r*pe culture at universities, but happily support the party of Rochdale and Rotherham.

R Wright
R Wright
1 year ago

“Lloyd Russell-Moyle went puce — perhaps less surprising — and started to heckle every woman who spoke of their similar concerns. Later, when Miriam Cates, a Conservative MP and friend, spoke of her concerns around safeguarding, he accused her of being a bigot before crossing over to the Tory side of the Chamber to sit on the side benches, very close to her, staring as if to intimidate her.”
God, living in Brighton really does a number on people. My sympathy for the author. No parliamentarian should be shouted down.

Last edited 1 year ago by robertdkwright
AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago
Reply to  R Wright

To be fair, the village idiot of Kemp Town isn’t a good representation of the overall populace of Brighton, but the options in Brighton politics are all so dire that it is little wonder that this rude aggressive and moronic individual clings on to power.

AL Crowe
AL Crowe
1 year ago
Reply to  R Wright

To be fair, the village idiot of Kemp Town isn’t a good representation of the overall populace of Brighton, but the options in Brighton politics are all so dire that it is little wonder that this rude aggressive and moronic individual clings on to power.

R Wright
R Wright
1 year ago

“Lloyd Russell-Moyle went puce — perhaps less surprising — and started to heckle every woman who spoke of their similar concerns. Later, when Miriam Cates, a Conservative MP and friend, spoke of her concerns around safeguarding, he accused her of being a bigot before crossing over to the Tory side of the Chamber to sit on the side benches, very close to her, staring as if to intimidate her.”
God, living in Brighton really does a number on people. My sympathy for the author. No parliamentarian should be shouted down.

Last edited 1 year ago by robertdkwright
Chris Emmett
Chris Emmett
1 year ago

Well done Rosie. Your selfless support for women and children is appreciated by many of us, of all political parties. This isn’t a left/right argument it is a wrong/right issue of protecting all our children from harmful influences, defending women’s hard won rights and recognising this dangerous ideology which threatens our society. I am sorry that you face such vile abuse and intimidation but believe me you are not alone in this debate.

Chris Emmett
Chris Emmett
1 year ago

Well done Rosie. Your selfless support for women and children is appreciated by many of us, of all political parties. This isn’t a left/right argument it is a wrong/right issue of protecting all our children from harmful influences, defending women’s hard won rights and recognising this dangerous ideology which threatens our society. I am sorry that you face such vile abuse and intimidation but believe me you are not alone in this debate.

Jeanie K
Jeanie K
1 year ago

The “original” trans people (ie trans before they were hyjacked by activists) were quite happy to go live a quiet life and most people allowed them to do so. Now, the great majority of today’s trans are just trouble making activist wierdoes. They should be ignored. People such as Ben Bradshaw and Lloyd Russell-Moyle should be thrown out of parliament and publically disgraced and humiliated.

Jeanie K
Jeanie K
1 year ago

The “original” trans people (ie trans before they were hyjacked by activists) were quite happy to go live a quiet life and most people allowed them to do so. Now, the great majority of today’s trans are just trouble making activist wierdoes. They should be ignored. People such as Ben Bradshaw and Lloyd Russell-Moyle should be thrown out of parliament and publically disgraced and humiliated.

Stewart Dixon
Stewart Dixon
1 year ago

Thank you, I shall share your article with family and friends.

Stewart Dixon
Stewart Dixon
1 year ago

Thank you, I shall share your article with family and friends.

Simon Latham
Simon Latham
1 year ago

Outstanding, Rosie is a brave and admirable MP. She describes herself as a progressive but thankfully she is of a different order to some of our progressive cousins across the Atlantic.

Simon Latham
Simon Latham
1 year ago

Outstanding, Rosie is a brave and admirable MP. She describes herself as a progressive but thankfully she is of a different order to some of our progressive cousins across the Atlantic.

ben arnulfssen
ben arnulfssen
1 year ago

The whole point is that Labour has, once and for all abandoned the working class (which is still predominantly white) in order to pursue a self-defined journey which becomes ever more “progressive” (note that “the Left” as formerly defined, and as generally understood by the electorate as a whole has little or nothing to do with “progress”).

This means that Labour lives in constant fear of being outflanked from “the left” as THEY define it. As each successive idea is implanted, it gains traction (because those on this mad rat-race dare not oppose it, they depend upon the Party for patronage and advancement) only for those adhering to be attacked in turn as the NEXT vitriolic chorus begins shrieking from the distance.

The only way to oppose these forces is to decide to do so. Labour ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT do this, since that would involve questioning the infallibility of ideology.

ben arnulfssen
ben arnulfssen
1 year ago

The whole point is that Labour has, once and for all abandoned the working class (which is still predominantly white) in order to pursue a self-defined journey which becomes ever more “progressive” (note that “the Left” as formerly defined, and as generally understood by the electorate as a whole has little or nothing to do with “progress”).

This means that Labour lives in constant fear of being outflanked from “the left” as THEY define it. As each successive idea is implanted, it gains traction (because those on this mad rat-race dare not oppose it, they depend upon the Party for patronage and advancement) only for those adhering to be attacked in turn as the NEXT vitriolic chorus begins shrieking from the distance.

The only way to oppose these forces is to decide to do so. Labour ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT do this, since that would involve questioning the infallibility of ideology.

Howard Gleave
Howard Gleave
1 year ago

“Many of us (ie Labour MPs) know that self-identifying as a woman does not make a person a biological woman who shares our lived experience. But for obvious reasons, these views are not voiced outside of closed rooms or private and secret WhatsApp groups”.

The reasons aren’t obvious. Nor should they be. You, Rosie, are making the self evidejt point that a woman is an adult female human. She has had the “lived experience” no man can have. No amount of surgery nor hormone therapy will change an individual’s chromosomal make-up one iota. What the trans movement is about, at heart, is mental illness. Some young women (it is now overwhelmingly women) are distressed as they experience puberty and are confused and disturbed by their experiences. They are being encouraged to think that there is a medical/surgical solution to their problems. There isn’t. Those that wish to impose on everyone the warped notion that there are over 70 genders and that people can “transition” between biological sexes at will, are the authoritarians. The lunatics must not be allowed to run the asylum.

Howard Gleave
Howard Gleave
1 year ago

“Many of us (ie Labour MPs) know that self-identifying as a woman does not make a person a biological woman who shares our lived experience. But for obvious reasons, these views are not voiced outside of closed rooms or private and secret WhatsApp groups”.

The reasons aren’t obvious. Nor should they be. You, Rosie, are making the self evidejt point that a woman is an adult female human. She has had the “lived experience” no man can have. No amount of surgery nor hormone therapy will change an individual’s chromosomal make-up one iota. What the trans movement is about, at heart, is mental illness. Some young women (it is now overwhelmingly women) are distressed as they experience puberty and are confused and disturbed by their experiences. They are being encouraged to think that there is a medical/surgical solution to their problems. There isn’t. Those that wish to impose on everyone the warped notion that there are over 70 genders and that people can “transition” between biological sexes at will, are the authoritarians. The lunatics must not be allowed to run the asylum.

Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago

I felt like I was in an abusive relationship when Westminster politicians practically all advocated for lockdowns and held us under house arrest for the best part of two years. Rosie Duccield was one such politician and was found to have broken the rules imposed on the rest of us.

Duffield could leave the Labour Party….

Last edited 1 year ago by Galvatron Stephens
Ben Jones
Ben Jones
1 year ago

A good point, well made.

Ben Jones
Ben Jones
1 year ago

A good point, well made.

Galvatron Stephens
Galvatron Stephens
1 year ago

I felt like I was in an abusive relationship when Westminster politicians practically all advocated for lockdowns and held us under house arrest for the best part of two years. Rosie Duccield was one such politician and was found to have broken the rules imposed on the rest of us.

Duffield could leave the Labour Party….

Last edited 1 year ago by Galvatron Stephens
Frank McCusker
Frank McCusker
1 year ago

Good balanced article. No wonder the author doesn’t fit with the wokies. She’s the “wrong type of feminist”. I’m afraid the issues-based feminism of the last century has been pushed aside by rampant, cultish, pseudo-religion identitarianism.

Frank McCusker
Frank McCusker
1 year ago

Good balanced article. No wonder the author doesn’t fit with the wokies. She’s the “wrong type of feminist”. I’m afraid the issues-based feminism of the last century has been pushed aside by rampant, cultish, pseudo-religion identitarianism.

Richard Abbot
Richard Abbot
1 year ago

I would walk over hot coals sooner than vote Labour.
BUT
I would vote for Rosie Duffield if I lived in that constituency. Because independence of mind, wherever is shows itself, must be protected at all costs.

Richard Abbot
Richard Abbot
1 year ago

I would walk over hot coals sooner than vote Labour.
BUT
I would vote for Rosie Duffield if I lived in that constituency. Because independence of mind, wherever is shows itself, must be protected at all costs.

Douglas H
Douglas H
1 year ago

Great article, beautifully written.

Douglas H
Douglas H
1 year ago

Great article, beautifully written.

Edwina Addington
Edwina Addington
1 year ago

Thank you for your courage. Now Start a new political party.