Rory Stewart

Dh has met him a couple of times and really rates him.

I thought well of Stewart until I heard him on BBC R4's Any Questions panel on 01 Feb 2019, when he twice asserted that people were dying at the hands of 12yo knife-wielding children in an attempt to justify new UK legislation that sought to allow police to curtail the rights of children (and adults) who they thought might be the type to carry a knife even if they weren't found with one - a profiler's dream. Nobody challenged him for evidence, either then or the next day in the Any Answers phone-in, where the assertions were repeated. I hunted high and low and found two cases in the USA and not one in the UK where the law would be applied.

I emailed the BBC, Stewart himself and my own (Cons) MP asking for evidence but never had a reply from any of them. So Stewart makes stuff up to suit his political agenda, ignoring facts and challenges. If he is prepared to vilify children, what else is he prepared to do? He lost my respect and any trust that day.

Seriously, if a 12 yo killed someone with a knife, how would it not make headlines? The only 12yo children I found reported on were stabbing victims...

Rory Stewart is my secret embarrassing Tory crush

OhHolyJesus and maybe he thought you were pro-trans and was trying to pander? Still not a good optic.
Good luck with all your complaint letters.

I probably should have asked for clarification OldCrone but I just lost interest and switched off from him in disappointment.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who asked, there was a thread on it here, a lot has happened since then, you're right Lamahaha, so I might write to him again, once I've finished all my other complaint letters...

In answer to your questions, yes I do believe a transwoman is a woman.

When people say this they should be asked an additional question in order for us to better understand their belief system. I would ask them something like this:

"What changes does a man have to undergo in order to become a transwoman and hence a woman?"

Oh, noooooooooooooooooooo....

But: hoping he only means it in the legal sense, like everyone did back then. Nobody dared speak out last year.
A lot has changed since August 2019.

From August 2019, I was gutted, I liked him too (although I appreciate it could be just something he said and doesn't truly believe, like many MPs...and the odd Labour Leader candidate around these parts...)

Dear OhHoly

Thank you for writing. Please accept my apologies for this very delayed response. In answer to your questions, yes I do believe a transwoman is a woman.

Best wishes
Rory

On trans women in women’s prisons - the policy was introduced before Rory Stewart became minister for prisons - during his tenure he announced a review and opened the first unit specifically for transgender women.

Yeah the “gangstas” thing was terrible. None of the candidates are perfect by a long shot. I still like Rory the best. To be fair I think he’s genuinely trying to challenge his stereotypes and learn more about a range of people with all this “kip with a Londoner stuff”.

If only he saw the same mystery and majesty in the community of London as he did in the people he met further afield in his travels ...

But then, tis always the way - exoticization of the ‘distant, noble savage’; prison for da local yoof.

It shouldn't need saying but they were actually musicians I believe.

Agree, I went off him after he stereotyped 3 young black men
as 'gangster types'.

But if he was prisons minister, was he not responsible for policy on placing transwomen in the female prison estate? Karen White's assaults on women didn't happen on his watch (it was just before he was appointed), but what was his response? The policy is still in place as far as I understand.

Even if he doesn't believe TWAW then he's not prepared to actually stick his neck out for it, is he?

Rory is an excellent person. He has an actual brain and is the last one just to accept a thing on the surface without asking about what it actually means.

Just a pity he thinks all black people are ‘gangstas’.

And that he’s Tory.

Other than that, yeah ... Crack on.

Just before the piers Morgan interview with India Willoughby and the Olympic committee consultant about transwomen in sport, Morgan asked Rory about the upcoming topic.

Rory said he thought the inclusion of transwomen in women’s sport was unfair. I’d be surprised if he believed Tw Aw.

I'll reserve judgement until I hear him and Shaun Bailey state their views on self ID and women's rights.

The Mayoral vote is supplementary so you can vote for more than one non-Khan candidate if it ends up going down to a final two.

The polling for Khan is interesting - he's both well ahead but only popular in Muslim communities. As a result he might not make it above the 50% for first preference vote - and if he doesn't he could lose as there's a strong anti Khan vote, which gets stronger with every tweet he posts about women, people of all genders and trans rights

I quite like him and the main Tory guy whose name I forget. I wonder if he'll end up being a bit wishy washy and not accomplish much by trying to please everyone and offend no-one though.

If the stories about delivering his own baby are true then I think it's fair to assume he understands biology.

I remember the podcast with James O'Brien last summer(?) and thinking he (Stewart) came out of it well (and also how how different O'Brien is when he takes someone seriously instead of trying to make them look foolish).

I also like how he (Stewart) dresses but hey, that's me.

But that said, he's also ambitious so I'm afraid I won't hold my breath.

It is a pleasure to listen to someone measured, thoughtful, educated. It makes a nice change from all the raucous, squawking, self indulgent ranting that is so prevalent now.
I am listening to some of his other talks atm.

An emergency, not a.

I believe he delivered his own baby as a emergency!

We have his books, I can thoroughly recommend them. Decent, thoughtful, compassionate man.

In the comments: Was this a bet? Talk on the subject of hedgehog for 10 minutes whithout hestiation, deviation, or repetition.

Imagine if he were to talk about female biology for ten minutes!

I like him too.