Spiked on PM's GRA Reform Policy and Carrie Symonds

[Abitofalark]

According to Spiked article about the recent upheaval
in Downing Street and what it means for policy direction:
"Take the trans issue. It is widely reported that Ms Symonds, being apparently on board with the cult of genderfluidity, encouraged Boris to ditch his planned reforms to the Gender Recognition Act which would have, rightly, made it more difficult for people to ‘change sex’. The problem here is not some Svengali-like power on the part of Ms Symonds. It is the vacuum at the heart of Boris. If he were genuinely committed to holding back the destructive transgender ideology – which is having such a damaging impact on confused teenagers, on the education system, on women’s sex-based rights, and on our basic ability to talk about, never mind celebrate, the institutions of family, motherhood and fatherhood – then he would not be so easily switched by the whispers of his girlfriend. Boris’s flightiness, not Carrie’s hypnotic charms, is the problem."
www.spiked-online.com/2020/11/17/boris-has-bottled-out-of-the-culture-wars/
I haven't seen this reported or discussed here but perhaps it has been. It is deeply disappointing if true. Also makes me wonder about the position of Liz Truss, who has been the subject of adverse comment and speculation in the media. Who exactly has been putting out such talk and why isn't known but there are plenty of interested parties in and around Whitehall who would be glad if she were out of the way. I do remember seeing a comment in the media a while back that Downing Street would rather the whole thing went away. This might be a reason why.

It was reported at the time, but actually the other way round.

That thanks to Carrie Symonds they ditched the many many submissions that were pro self identity implying she was gender critical.

If it was as the Spiked article says, then it mean Boris does think for himself as he rejected the "gender fulid" arguement.

Very confusing that they have turned it on its head. Do they understand the issue?

But its the same as, is Boris just an air head going with what it going to make him popular which is why he bought into the Cumming agenda, and was it Carrie Symonds who got rid of Cummings? Or was the reality that Boris suddenly realised that surrounding himself with what is described as lad culture of Cummings and his free thinkers, isn't actually a good look. It seems these baby incels really thought calling Boris' fiancée a spoilt princess or whatever it was, and sent Allegra Straton to Coventry, and all their other grubby school boy behaviour, was actually going to make everyone think they are central to government. It is just a shame that it took Boris so long to stand up to them.

But yes he is weak. I think he goes for what he thinks will make him most popular.

I doubt he spent a second thinking about the GRA.Quite happy to let Liz Truss take the frontline. But if there had been a huge public rejection I am sure he would just have dumped her.

Slightly off topic, but given the gendered nature of VAWG, I've realised that Boris is in many ways a victim. He suffered domestic abuse as a child (witnessing DV between his parents). That probably explains his deep-rooted need to be popular.

Oh Stumbled I read at the time that she'd talked him out of ditching the reforms to make it easier for Trans people to change their sex. This is from the DM:

^
The Prime Minister had been expected to declare that the Government was abandoning moves to allow transgender people to change their birth certificates without a medical diagnosis. ^

^
It was a blow to Cabinet Minister Liz Truss, who has been fighting a ‘culture war’ within Whitehall to stop the rules being relaxed to allow biological males who identify as women to use female facilities such as lavatories.
Now MPs who supported Ms Truss’s drive have claimed privately that the Prime Minister backed away from a confrontation with trans activists on the advice of Ms Symonds – something that Downing Street categorically denies.^

Let's add something less 'hand wringing' into the mix.

Some time ago, Boris said that 'we' were not ready for self id. Too many things have happened that make me almost certain relaxation of the GRA is highly unlikely. The Red Wall will not buy it and Boris will not sell out. The Trans issue has become far more than about trans rights and many Conservatives realise that it is aligned with Critical Race Theory and the hard left. Other things have happened such as the statement to education about balance and the withdrawal of harmful 'Stonewall' et al RSE....and then Carrie Symonds is being portrayed as some master puppeteer, so much hype it's amazing and never forget, she was harmed by a man - she knows what's at stake.

Lets look at the bigger picture, it is a little more revealing

I don't disagree with that analysis. The Conservatives are as concerned with self preservation as they are with their political agenda. If it's not a vote winner it won't fly. Boris is a weakness because he flip flops according to his own personal whims, the need to be liked being one of them. I don't feel massively pessimistic about this angle.

That's from here (2 August 2020):

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8584481/Carrie-Symonds-stopped-fianc-Boris-Johnson-ditching-transgender-reforms-MPs-claim.html

The Spiked article is a bit of a rant about "Culture Wars" which is a hobby horse of Brendan O'Neill's and I think he's inserted the substance of the Daily Mail article into his own to support his arguments. (You get over 700,000 hits on a Google search using the words: Brendan O'Neill culture war.)

I wonder whether "Symonds being trans skeptical" was based on this:

twitter.com/carriesymonds/status/968461617175388160

HecatesCats - your quote supports what I said. If she had "talked him out of a confrontation with the trans community" then we would be going full speed ahead with self id.

@stumbledin

HecatesCats - your quote supports what I said. If she had "talked him out of a confrontation with the trans community" then we would be going full speed ahead with self id.

I thought it referred to the fact that Truss wanted to be tougher but that they left the door open