Kwasi Kwarteng nails it in The Telegraph

[tabbycatstripy]

“Everyone knows their mother. Their mother is a woman. They know what that is, intuitively, it’s common sense. So this idea that politicians are literally tripping over words is, I think, pathetic.

“If someone can’t say, ‘my mother is a woman’, would I trust that person to run the country? With Keir I think he’s just trying to keep a very vocal and radicalised wing of his party on side. And so he can’t really say boo to a goose. He can’t even tell you what day it is because people will be cross. He’s juggling this crazy coalition. Let’s see how he does.”

My sides.

Right into the open goal.
I'm not a Tory voter but at least they're seeing the clearer picture here.

Kwasi Kwarteng

That’s quite a good analysis of the position Keir is in. I’ve not heard a Tory mp ( or a labour one for that matter) articulate Keira’s problem quite so clearly. He cannot say boi to a goose and therefore neither can his mp’s. Boris has lanced that boil for Tory mp’s and they all seem to be tripping over themselves to give their opinions on this topic now!

Keir not Keira

@sashagabadon

Keir not Keira

Not to be confused with Shakira, who so famously stated in a moment of uncanny foresight that the hips don’t lie.

It’s very apt. Painting him as dithering, nervous and ultimately untrustworthy will work for the Tories. Because he is.

@sashagabadon

Keir not Keira

I thought you were sensibly not presuming zir identity, tbh.

@tabbycatstripy

It’s very apt. Painting him as dithering, nervous and ultimately untrustworthy will work for the Tories. Because he is.

Might work out quite nicely for those of us who long for him to find his spine, too.

Might.

It’s too late for me to vote for them. If he changes his tune now I won’t believe him.

Everyone knows their mother.

Sheltered

@CatherinaJTV

Everyone knows their mother.

Sheltered

Is that the best you've got?

My DH was adopted as a baby. Didn't meet his mother (or 'birthing parent') until he was in his 20s. Oddly, he was never in any doubt that she was a woman.

The semantic quantum physics has to stop, really. Yes, we ‘all’ know who our mothers are is technically a flawed statement, but we know exactly what he means. None of us was gestated in a man.

Everyone knows that they had or have a mother.

Everyone knows it was a woman who birthed them.

A man has never given birth ever.

@CatherinaJTV

Everyone knows their mother.

Sheltered

That scraping sound? It's the bottom of the barrel, pal.

Surely since babies recognise their mother's voice while they are in their mother's womb, everyone did at some point know their mother.

Interesting summation of Starmer’s position

I have been thinking about Blair compared to where Starmer are now and party donations

I’d be interested if anyone has general info (without having to dig too much) on the differences.

@CatherinaJTV

Everyone knows their mother.

Sheltered

Every single person walking the earth right now has come from a woman's womb. And we all know it.

I agree with this and applaud him for saying it.

But - after the shitshow of the last 12 years I will never vote Tory. And I hope that this doesn't mean that others will forget everything else and vote them in again

I'm just so angry. We've got the most openly corrupt and inept government in place at a time when we desperately need an alternative. We literally just need a party with some integrity and common sense. The bar is so low. They could have had this in the bag. People are desperate for a viable alternative. Any sensible alternative. And yet still Labour f*ck it up. Literal common sense - what is a woman.

They've lost the election. I wonder if they realise this. Even if they changed their stance now no-one would believe them. Idiots.

Thank you, Kwasi

That is well put. It makes me think the question to politicians should be "Tell us about your mother" followed by "how did you know she was a woman without her telling you her pronouns?".

That is very well put by Kwasi.

I like the fact he's saying everyone knows what a woman is and not even bothering with trying to explain it.

We're necessarily drawn in to the discussions about what a woman is due to the efforts to redefine it.
But it frustrates the hell out of me that we're even expected to explain something everyone knows and has always known.

Everyone knows their mother, means: everyone knows their mother is a woman.

Even if you never met your mother you'd know this.
How?

‘I like the fact he's saying everyone knows what a woman is and not even bothering with trying to explain it.’

Me too. We take the activists far too seriously.

I quite liked Kwasi Kwarteng before he said this. And even more so now. He seems to have more scruples than some in the Tory party.

Now all we need is for Kwasi to clarify that a trans woman is a trans woman and cannot be defined as a woman because yet again saying what he has said or just saying a woman is an Adult Human Female is NOT enough. It's like BJ's but it wasn't a 'party' it was a 'work gathering', politicians have always been good at playing with words and manipulating phrases so it appears they are agreeing/saying the right thing but actually we need to make them clarify what they mean.