Mark Drakeford, First Minister Wales: women's concerns a 'shrill dogwhistle'

[Pluvia]

This is the man who went to Swansea Pride the other week and talked solely about trans, ignoring the LGB completely.

Today he accused a member of the Senedd voicing concerns brought to him by her constituents of being shrill and using a dogwhistle.

https://twitter.com/LauraJ4SWEast/status/1655954016151695360

Not surprised always thought that he hated women

Misogynistic twat

Jesus and people vote for them

Shrill, unimportant. Add it to dinosaurs

What a fucker really. I can’t believe the state of them

I always thought there was something of the misogynist about him. ‘Shrill’ indeed. Arsehole. And we know where he borrowed the dogwhistle from.

Can’t even answer that’s how low women are

Surprised he didn’t tell her to calm down.

Ah yes. Shrill, because of their nasty high voices.

Shrill and strident are those misogynistic words beloved of workplace bullies.

Oh dear. I expect he'll remember what women are for when he needs one to do something womanly for him.

"Shrill dogwhistle" - they really can't hear themselves, can they? No argument at all, just combining their favourite term of misogynistic abuse ("shrill") with their favourite cliche to describe an argument they have no way of rebutting ("dogwhistle"). Coming from a first minister, this is absolutely pathetic.

I actually wanted to hear their position

It was a decent question and I want to know where Labour stands

So they’re going to use this line from now on and not answer

I can't believe he can call a woman asking a question "shrill" like that and get away with the blatant sexism. She spoke reasonably, in a calm and assured way, asking a clear and reasonable question. He was shaking with anger and totally contemptuous of her in response.

The fucking cheek of cheering themselves on a progressives while they frogmarch women to the margins. Bastards.

I don't know what was worse , his comments on the women nodding in agreement. Labour truly are vile.

Not just a dog whistle, but a shrill one. Because uterus people are shrill old hags.

this is what Labour really think. They’re emboldened by last week’s wins and the mask has slipped instantly.

It's the same Conservative member to whom Labour's Hannah Blythn was exceptionally rude in February:

https://twitter.com/LauraJ4SWEast/status/1622985492781232129?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

In watching that I've just noticed Jane Hutt, once a leading feminist in Wales, sitting shaking her head in a condemnatory fashion while Blythyn talks down to another woman.

This is how people without a leg to stand on behave. Insults, patronising remarks and mugging. Even in our Senned the TRAs can find absolutely nothing to defend themselves with beyond trying to shame or humiliate women. I will not vote Labour while this behaviour is condoned.

This needs replay on loop at the next election. And every politician needs to be asked if they condemn this language.

Wanker

Misogyny Bingo

Transcript from Welsh Parliament website.

09/05/2023 14:06:24 / Laura Anne Jones MS
Thank you. First Minister, it pains me to have to keep asking you something that is clearly a priority of yours and your Government's, but it is not a priority of the people of Wales when we have a failing NHS, educational outcomes that you cannot be proud of and a housing crisis. But what you're focusing on has such a significant impact on half the population of Wales, I have to ask you, First Minister, I know it's hard to keep up with the amount of flip-flopping Sir Keir Starmer does, but which statement from your UK Labour leader do you agree with? Do you agree that biological men can be women and, therefore, enter vulnerable women-only spaces, changing rooms, and participate in women-only sports, or do you agree with his statement that biological women and girls' rights should not be rolled back, and, therefore, you'll be rewriting your LGBTQ action plan, dropping your gender recognition reform plans and constructing fact-based sex education in our schools to reflect that?

09/05/2023 14:05:26 / Mark Drakeford MS / First Minister of Wales
Llywydd, I'm simply not going to get drawn into the shrill and deliberately divisive debate that the Member continuously attempts to raise on the floor of this Senedd. Did she not see that her party lost over 1,000 seats in the elections in England last week? I don't think it's wise of her to come here telling me that my party doesn't understand the priorities of people in Wales. Your party absolutely has lost any credibility it may ever have had on that basis. The Member and people like her spent the whole of April trying to raise these dog-whistle concerns and found, as I would have been confident of all along, that people out there have a much greater sense of decency than the Conservative Party ever attributes to them. They are not interested in attacks on trans people, they are not interested in attacks on black people, they are not interested in attacks on asylum seekers—exactly the sort of agenda that the Member herself pursues and her party pursues. Don't come here and tell me that I don't understand people's priorities when you pursue an agenda that is designed exclusively to divide people, when our job should be to try and unite people in pursuit of basic decencies.

(https://record.assembly.wales/Plenary/13342#C501339)

The dog whistle chants are beginning to sound like erm... dog whistles...

Those of you who don't live in Wales probably have no idea how untouchable Labour feels itself to be. It's been in office for more than 20 years and if things keep going the way they are now, it'll be another 20 years before they're challenged. We're living in a one-party state. There is no equivalent of the House of Lords, no one to check their arrogance.

There is something really deeply unpleasant about that clip, not just that he doesn't see it as an important question, but something else I can't quite identify.

yup, this

they're not getting my vote

He’s dismissive, but what makes it so unpleasant is that he’s accusing her of raising something that no “decent” person would, and he is dripping with contempt.

...telling me that my party doesn't understand the priorities of people in Wales...

Truth hurts, Drakeford. Especially when Women are doing the telling.

What a twat. He forgot to squeeze in the word “hysterical” to his berating lecture.