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

Labour is unelectable

@Laladybird yes that is what they are doing. Which is why every single Labour MP needs to be asked the question "what is a woman?" ahead of every interview in which they have the gall to talk about women at all.

OMG I haven't seen JHB in action before - I think I may have a girl-crush on her!

Think we owe it to the memory of the Suffragettes to at least vote for someone, even if it's the Monster Raving Loony Party...

well, if there is any benefit to any menopause policy, you can bet your bloody life that the TW will be claiming it too

It's the polite way to ask someone to stop shoving your head down the toilet and flushing it.

I’ll have to watch later but sounds good

Absolutely.

@Sidaway I think in the last couple of elections I've always managed to find an independent who was focused on local issues to vote for.

I like the look of the policies of the SDP (https://sdp.org.uk/policies/) but I'm in one of the safest Tory seats in the country so I doubt they'll have a candidate in my area.

I did pull out the email I sent my MP in 2018 about self-ID though - he wrote back to me at the time basically straight out of the Maria Miller/Penny Mordaunt school of "be kind". I have forwarded it to him again, asking whether in light of the last 5 years his views had changed at all.

i haven’t heard the plans that Labour have but they’ll need more police, more law courts, proper sentencing (ie prison places). How is that being funded.

I'm sure I saw somewhere that the Monster Raving Loony Party is pledged to take a GC position in support of women's rights. If it's in their manifesto and they field a candidate where I live I will probably vote for them. I can't vote Labour when they talk down to and/or ignore GC women when they raise worries about safeguarding and single sex spaces and then, hypocritically, pretend to be worried about VAWG.
In fact I was so shocked and distressed to hear Keir Starmer say ... it should never be said that only women have a cervix ....that I would struggle to vote for a party with him in it. The same goes for Liza Nandy-prisons, David Lammy - dinosaurs, the male Labour MP's who tried to shout down Rosie Duffield. Plus Emily Thornberry and Stella Creasey for various sneering remarks directed at women.

The moment I heard the pledge to reduce violence against women I thought "How does that work with sticking violent men in with incarcerated women?" So it's rubbish again.

I liked the way she interrupted to shout “HE! HE! HE!” when Ellie dutifully described the rapist as ‘she’. Thank goodness.

JH-B mentioned that the Labour press office did not like her asking these questions, but she had to.

Even though I am properly GC I would be terrified at the prospect of being interviewed by JH-B on anything. She is quick. I wonder if the press office will retaliate. Soft interviews only?

Minimum sentence of 7 years for rapists - cool story sis!
Likely spent in a womans prison if it happens.
Rapists will think all their Xmas's have come at once, victims on tap all day long, talk about being cock - a -hoop!

In this thread 100,000 signatures on the Equality Act - What next a poster wrote to Ellie Reeves as her MP about the petition to update the Equality Act and the debate.

The answer did not answer anything and fudged the issues.

Really glad Julia brought up Rosie Duffield and how virtue signaling Labour just hung her out to dry when she was viciously attacked in parliament by a member of her own party.

Why would women trust Labour when they refuse to support and protect their own democratically elected female MPs?

It means please stop asking me this question. I’m finding it hard to defend the indefensible.

Yep as for voting I’ll just spoil the ballot I guess?

Of course the Labour Press Office does not like anyone asking MPs those questions! It's a PR bloody disaster and makes them look somewhere between muppets and male supremacists. And either ill informed of the realities of the situation, or in flat out denial of reality that's a bit uncomfortable to face.

None of which makes a voter think 'gosh yes, I'd like you to run the country, I could trust you with all that'.

What amazes me is that Labour know that this is an issue that people feel strongly about. They also know, if they have ever watched JHB's show, that she has a record of asking politicians their view on it. And yet Ellie Reeves was completely unprepared for it. She didn't even attempt a coherent answer, she just tried to change the subject. She was worse than useless.

Why would you vote for someone like that? Why?

I'll be covering mine with stickers.

Yet she the covers the Justice portfolio which is right in the thick of it.

Presumably Stonewall have reassured her that everything is fine, and that they will continue to advise. And undo all the nasty phobic things the Tories have recently done to push back the tide.

Made some excellent points on rape stats and violence increasing BUT then refers to a man as a "she" WTAF?

This man still has his dick.

Trouble is and i ve raised this before, with a GRC a man become a woman & hence access to womens spaces - it's effectively self ID, just takes longer, 96% of applications and its around 400 per year, are granted & those refused are for admin reasons usually.

Whoever is first out the blocks and starts to roll back all this trans stuff (rather than tory waffle and no action) will win the next GE, women tend to vote more than men, both Sunak & Starmer et al need to remember.

Surely they know that they’ll be asked so they should have some sort of prepared answer.

If they are going to continue to put rapists in women’s prisons, then fucking own it. Weaselling around just makes them look dishonest AND stupid.

Id like to think that if they are smart enough to figure out that if you have to waffle your policies so hard because you know the vast majority of people disagree with them, then maybe you should rethink them or develop much better arguments. But they are fucking thick which isn’t what I’m looking for in my MP or prime minister. I can respect a politician who’s policies I disagree with if they can make a rational argument about why they should/shouldn’t do something.