Leaked video of Rishi Sunak talking about "women having penises"

Wait a minute, the ethical Guardian is reporting untruths? Truly, it is a shocking day. 🥱 Business as usual.

It's unfortunate that the video of his interview with Julia Hartley-Brewer a few months ago is still in circulation.

Maybe the intervening 15 months has helped him see clarity. (And votes. Hehe...)

The Guardian have reported this a Rishi mocking transpeople, with some tory Quisling quoted. It's fairly obvious he's mocking Davey.

He's steadily retreating across that golden bridge. Like so many politicians, he unthinkingly went along with the TWAW mantras until it became evident that it was dangerous, didn't make sense and that women (and especially children) were becoming the victims of it all.
He (like much of the establishment) are now trying to return to facts, science and safeguarding children without anyone noticing their level of culpability.
It'll be a long and tedious journey as trans activists have been given access to power worldwide. But change it will.
As Hannah Arendt said:
"The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lie will now be accepted as truth, and truth be defamed as lie, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world - and the category of truth versus falsehood is among the mental means to this end - is being destroyed"

People will not let this happen.

It's almost as if he's a .......
.. politician

I don’t think Starmer has said anything lately, after the cervix bit, except no one is talking about it

God knows what he thinks other than fence sitting extraordinaire.

I doubt he’s thinking of anything but his career.

It's unfortunate that the video of his interview with Julia Hartley-Brewer a few months ago is still in circulation. It showed Rishi Sunak refusing to define a woman, despite Julia asking him to do so repeatedly.
It seems that Rishi Sunak will say whatever he thinks will help his career.

So this article has (so far) made over 60,000 people happy

Presumably when the US wakes up just as many people will be annoyed.

I only click on PN to see the reader reactions.

Honestly, I don't think either party thinks this will make much difference to their chances of winning/losing an election. They think it's peripheral that could influence, at most, a few people's choice but that won't shift general voting patterns.
Of people whose opinion I know, all of them disagree with women in sport, trans in women's prison, etc, but they'll vote over the usual political issues and gender issues won't affect that.

This is my worry too:

1. The Conservatives realise they're unlikely to win the coming election, and decide their best bet is to turn it into a single-issue campaign where they and Labour are on opposing sides, and they think the majority of the public will back them.

1. They choose gender/women's rights.

1. They lose the election, not because the public disagree with them on the issue, but because of apathy amongst their core voters due to their performance on a variety of other issues.

1. The Conservatives decide being gender critical is a vote-loser and is to blame for the loss.

1. The TRAs embedded throughout the institutions and lobbying charities, like Mermaids and Stonewall, are emboldened and set to work with renewed vigour.

1. Laws such as self-id are either introduced by the Labour Party and then not revoked by the Conservatives the next time they are in power, or worse, are introduced by the Conservatives the next time they are in power in order to placate the voters they believe they put off by standing against gender ideology in the election they lost.

This is why I hate politics, and all three political parties. It doesn't matter what the majority really want, or what's best for the general public, it's all these stupid power games that decide our fates.

And I dont think the tories gain by leaking this, because the Tories now that dont have enough parliamentary time to hold a HoC debate, nor that enough MPs would vote on principle and not on Party lines. Far more likely that Stonewall etc., want to portray the Tories as stoking the anit woke war.

I think the motivation for the Tories to leak this would be "well, we can't amend the EA before the next election, but don't worry - we get the point so vote for us anyway and we might sort something out for the safety of women and girls in the future".

Yes, I was pleased by the reporter’s quiet and sensible response. I heard nothing offensive in Sunak’s comments, and I can’t imagine other ordinary people would either. It’s frightening that ideology is being taught in schools.

I'm not a fan of the Tory Party, but remember that it's the left-wing that is pushing the culture war, and the Tory Party is just meekly pushing back.

If they are exploiting the issue for political gain, well they couldn't do that if the lefties hadn't gone mad and started the culture war in the first place.

I'm sure that a year ago, the video wouldn't have been presented in such a low key way, with both points of view being given equal weight.

Interesting - good to know.

Not many news channelsreported the Westminster Hall debate, but I suppose in terms of news, a leaked video, PM and so on, is more "exciting".

I thought that the way that this was reported on the ITV 10 o'clock news was interesting.

They played the video and then the main newsreader talked to a reporter who said that some people are finding the comments transphobic and offensive but other people would think that they were commonsense and that it was those people who Sunak would be trying to appeal to.

I'm sure that a year ago, the video wouldn't have been presented in such a low key way, with both points of view being given equal weight.

It wasn't the outrage that Pink News had been hoping for.

Thank you both, very insightful.

May is fully committed to gender ideology, and as minister for women and equalities got to set the tone from the get go. Most of the other ministers who followed her seemed to be the same.

Neither Cameron or May, when she was PM, really address concerns . I remember a series of ministers coming on here either telling us we were bigots, or making empty promises - remember trans prison wings?

It wasn't until truss and badenoch were in the women and equalities department that things changed. Rather than the leadership being unaware of the damage, i think it was policy until around 2020.

At least now, things are changing. But it seems that they are tackle problems as they arise - changing prison policy as a reaction to the trans women rapist in Scotland, and commissioning the Cass report. Rather than getting to thr root of it all.

The Tories haven't done anything because their party like others is divided. You cant blame Sunak for the fact that if all MPs were sane they could have a vote tomorrow and amend the EA (or even get rid of the GRA).

The idea that there are enough voters on mumsnet for any party to change a policy is just unrealistic.

And I dont think the tories gain by leaking this, because the Tories now that dont have enough parliamentary time to hold a HoC debate, nor that enough MPs would vote on principle and not on Party lines. Far more likely that Stonewall etc., want to portray the Tories as stoking the anit woke war.

And probably think that if they did give this parliamentary time when so much else is FU they would lose credibility ie even those who support women's sex based rights, do not think that in the face of cost of living, housing (lack of), NHS, Ukraine, that this is a priority. Why? Because it only benefits women.

The only way a vote will happen before the next GE is enough MPs of all parties indicate this is a priority. Then the Tories can feel they wont be setting themselves up for a defeat in the HoC.

So I'm afraid, that nice as it might be to blame one man, and even though Boris may have given the impression that politics is a one man show, it isn't. Its about getting a consensus, not only in your own party, but in the other parties.

Suspect they are also waiting on the outcome of the 2 legal cases due to be heard. From the intro to the Westminster Hall debate, the message is it isn't possible to discuss the issue openly until both court cases are completed.

This is what I don't understand, why have the Tories been sleeping on it? Leadership almost seems surprised by what's happened (under their watch!)

I'm not impressed that they've let it get this far 🤷‍♀️

Neither do I have any confidence in Lab/Lib Dem who aren't deviating from their stance at all.

https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/leaked-video-rishi-sunak-trans-b2359829.html

Video here for those who don't want to click PN news.

The thing that most depresses me is ‘no one is talking about it’

Well we are talking about it. And I’ll take a GE if it has to to get higher exposure

Shine a big old light on it and let people decide.

Worst case we don’t get the conversation at all. This could easily happen, so keep emailing or whatever

My point is that instead of demonstrating commitment to women which they could, there's a cynical use of the subject to gather votes.

It's insincere. I'd have more confidence if they actually bothered to do something meaningful and worthwhile on the subject. Instead it's just words rather than action. And tbh after the whole brexit saga of words rather than deeds it's tedious.

I just feel the subject is being used rather than serious consideration given to the matter.

I mean what have the Tory's actually DONE? I don't want bloody manifesto pledges.

Equally I find the bullshit coming from others equally nauseating and implausible.

It's depressing on so many levels.

I believe in none of them. Give me something to BELIEVE in...

There are millions of voters up for grabs here on Mumsnet. Why the fuck aren't we seeing a sign that the politicians care.?
Public opinion elsewhere is definitely changing as well!

I feel like this too

Surely to god political parties have people who monitor sites like this.