Julia Hartley-Brewer lobs gender kryptonite at Labour justice minister

[Fenlandia]

Shadow Justice Minister Ellie Reeves went on to Talk TV to promote Keir Starmer's latest policies on violence against women and girls. Julia naturally brings up the gender issue, rapists in women's prisons - how can you claim to protect women and girls when you can't define what those words mean?

As Julia says, “You cannot come on my show and talk about how Labour want to tackle violence against women and then refer to a double rapist as 'she'!”

No-one who watches the clip could be impressed by the Labour minister's response, umming, aahing, changing the subject, generally wibbling. That's what I mean by gender kryptonite - These politicians are so sure of their views that TWAW and yet as soon as sunlight is shone, they can't defend their positions at all (as Sturgeon and Varadkar found out recently) and crumple into gibbering, incoherent heaps.

https://twitter.com/TalkTV/status/1638829266291793921

[Artisticpaint]

I saw that on twitter, Labour really do hate women. And they can fuck right off with their patronising useless menopause policy.

[RealityFan]

The Labour Party really is lost here. TWAW pressure from the activists, TWAW beliefs from at least half the shadow cabinet incl Rayner, Nandy, Debonnaire, Lammy, Thornberry and most of the next level down incl Butler, Lewis etc. Critical pressure from those right next to Starmer with trans identified children incl Cooper and Kinnock. An ex-Stonewall man breathing down his neck. And gender critical MPs other than Rosie Duffield literally scared of breathing a word of support for her.
One of the results is car crash interviews like this one.

[Rightsraptor]

Oh that was wonderful! JHB really laid down the law.

[IcakethereforeIam]

And the labour minister just ignored, but at least it was said. Btw is 'take the heat out' the new 'no debate'?

[porridgecake]

They always talk about taking the heat out of the debate. Or say that there needs to be more light, less heat. I have no idea what this means. It is just nonsense.

[MrsOvertonsWindow]

@IcakethereforeIam

And the labour minister just ignored, but at least it was said. Btw is 'take the heat out' the new 'no debate'?

Yes - "take the heat out" implies hysterical menopausal women rather than rational debate about unethical medical treatment of children, dangerous removal of single sex spaces for women and illegally changing society in favour of an ideology based on male sexual fantasies and degradation of women.

[RealityFan]

They just don't want to hear from you pesky women. Can you just please roll over, and shut your mouths. You are SUCH pains. PLEASE shut up.

[SmartHome]

It means be quiet hysterical women and stop making my job harder. Labour have lost the plot haven't they. I continue to prepare to vote for nobody at the next GE, something I never thought I'd even consider.

[UtopiaPlanitia]

As previous posters have said, politicians need to stop equivocating on the issue of women’s rights with the 'less heat, more light' nonsense. They decidedly don’t really want more light on the issues because they refuse to properly discuss the matters involved.

[ladymactíre]

In Ireland none of the main political parties know what a woman is. At least you have a bit of hope

[Lottapianos]

'Btw is 'take the heat out' the new 'no debate'?'

Yes, looks like it. What a spineless bunch of cowards. I don't usually have any time for JHB but she's consistently great on this issue

[UtopiaPlanitia]

Oh, forgot to say, that watching that Labour shadow minister stutter and waffle and gulp in response to Julia HB’s comments was painful and didn’t in any way inspire confidence in the capabilities of Labour’s Shadow Cabinet team.

Rachel Reeves sputtering on the issue in a previous interview was also extremely cringey. https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/nick-ferrari/labour-mp-struggles-to-answer-if-its-transphobic-to-say-only-women-have-a-cervix/

[InspiralCoalescenceRingdown]

"Take the heat out" or "more light, less heat" would make sense if anyone who ever said it actually provided a useful contribution to the debate.

I've yet to see it.

[JoodyBlue]

JHB was fierce there!! Great to see. And as for Ellie Reeves, well she just ignored her and carried on. It is disgusting that a statement like "you cannot call a double rapist she" is felt to be ignorable by an MP asking for our votes. I'm pretty fed up of the eyebrow raising and the stammering and the saying that it is difficult for the two sides. I suspect many many people feel the same.

[IcakethereforeIam]

Yes, they say this, then never follow it up. I'm waiting for an interviewer to say, '....well? Go on then.' It's meant to make them sound calm and rational (unlike us hysterical wims), but it should be the start of a statement, not the end.

[FourTeaFallOut]

'Take the heat out', you know, like how male labour mps do when their own female party members speak on the matter and fall short of the gender faithful? Impassioned, I think they call it? Admittedly impassioned is an odd word to denote cowardly but the clock strikes thirteen.

[lifeturnsonadime]

It would be so easy to 'take the heat out' wouldn't it.

They could stop lying that men can be women.

They could stop putting men first.

They could say that they believe that women's rights matter.

[JoodyBlue]

I do think that every politician needs to be held to account on this issue. They are after all asking to represent women in a position of power and should be able to articulate their response to a question as important as what a woman is. The problem I see is the mass gaslighting of young women which means they won't own the issue for themselves. Therefore journalists, MPs, commentators and MSM need to be having the discussion. What is a woman - you cannot use a circular argument to answer that question and be taken seriously. The youth who stake a claim to any authenticity or coherence or intelligence will see then the argument for what it is. Currently the opposition is led by the nose by emotional 20 something babies.

[FOJN]

I disagree with JHB on many things but I'm very glad she's on our side and I love that she 'owns her show' and lays down the house rules for the gender nutters.

I think I'll scream if I hear one more Labour politician say we need to take the heat out of this debate.

Please fuck off and stop gaslighting women.

[SerenaVanDerWoodsenHumphrey]

I appreciate Julia holding Ellie accountable for saying that Labour didn't/doesn't support the Scottish GRR. They whipped their MSPs, for godsake! Anas Sarwar has been far more of a cheerleader for it than Sturgeon, or any of the SNP Leadership candidates who are at least canny enough to partially distance themselves. And unlike at WM where Labour is the actual Opposition and defying the whip usually "just" means being removed from the (shadow) Front Bench, in Scotland it apparently means either being barred from reselection or being thrown out of the party Andy Wightman/Greens-style. This needs scrutiny.

I don't think any "floating voters" in Scotland, even likely Labour voters, have much patience with Labour's faux-clueless "I don't know what they're doing up there!" (to quote Jess Phillips in the last Lab Leadership contest). If Ellie doesn't know what's going on in her party in Scotland, she should either find out before going on television or admit she doesn't know and make a note to find out rather than blethering. You want to talk about Scotland, don't tell lies about Scotland. You want votes in Scotland, don't act like you can't be bothered to keep up with what's happening here, in your own party, on a very basic level.

[UtopiaPlanitia]

@SerenaVanDerWoodsenHumphrey

I appreciate Julia holding Ellie accountable for saying that Labour didn't/doesn't support the Scottish GRR. They whipped their MSPs, for godsake! Anas Sarwar has been far more of a cheerleader for it than Sturgeon, or any of the SNP Leadership candidates who are at least canny enough to partially distance themselves. And unlike at WM where Labour is the actual Opposition and defying the whip usually "just" means being removed from the (shadow) Front Bench, in Scotland it apparently means either being barred from reselection or being thrown out of the party Andy Wightman/Greens-style. This needs scrutiny.

I don't think any "floating voters" in Scotland, even likely Labour voters, have much patience with Labour's faux-clueless "I don't know what they're doing up there!" (to quote Jess Phillips in the last Lab Leadership contest). If Ellie doesn't know what's going on in her party in Scotland, she should either find out before going on television or admit she doesn't know and make a note to find out rather than blethering. You want to talk about Scotland, don't tell lies about Scotland. You want votes in Scotland, don't act like you can't be bothered to keep up with what's happening here, in your own party, on a very basic level.

Hear, hear 👏👏

[Sistanotcista]

@SmartHome

It means be quiet hysterical women and stop making my job harder. Labour have lost the plot haven't they. I continue to prepare to vote for nobody at the next GE, something I never thought I'd even consider.

@SmartHome - your post struck such a chord with me. I was saying exactly the same thing to my daughter this morning - that for the first time ever I'm probably not going to vote in the next election. It makes me so sad, as voting is such a privilege, denied to so many people (especially women) across the world.

[FOJN]

The "she" also tells us that Labour will have no problem with Adam Graham being granted a GRC upon release from prison so that he can demand entry to women's spaces and conceal his criminal history.

Surely if you wanted to reduce VAWG you would target the low hanging fruit first and not create or maintain loopholes which allow convicted sex offenders in women's spaces.

[bellinisurge]

They think we won't notice.
They think we will be distracted by promises on "single sex spaces" rather than single sex exceptions in the Equality Act.
They think we don't know about the Haldane judgment which says legal sex and biological sex are the same thing.
They think we haven't realised there is de facto self ID here in the UK.

[Laladybird]

Is the Labour Party concerned that they might be alienating half the electorate?

As pps have said Scottish Labour whipped their MSPs to vote for self ID. A few women refused, including Johann Lamont MSP who has worked hard to protect women's rights in Scotland, against the Trans rights juggernaut.

Sorry to be cynical but this commitment to halve violence against women and girls comes across like Labour is trying to appeal to women voters and redirect attention away from the What is a Woman question.