Hmmm, as the victim of non-violent date-rape, I have to say that I agree that there can, in some circumstances, be a difference in degrees. The law is " any penetration", no matter how long it lasts, whether he, ahem, finishes, or how far it goes in. Although what happened to me was technically rape, he did withdraw and stop and there was no violence at all. I was very drunk and too naive at the time to realise where things were leading, so although I said no, I said it very late, and there was no force, IYSWIM. I cannot sit here and claim to understand what a girl who has been violently assaulted and forced has been through, because, thank god, my experience, although bad, was not in the same league.
The comparison with GBH is interesting, because s20 GBH covers both the man that throws a windmill style punch and cuts the other man's eye, and the man who breaks someones arm and nose and skull by slamming them against the wall. Technically the same offence, but different degrees of seriousness.
However, KC has totally ballsed up by using a crap choice of language and sounding like an incoherent fool. I think he was trying to talk about improving conviction rates!