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

Agree with RoyalCorgi, here.

I sent a thank you card to Laura Anne Jones the last time she was shut down and ignored in the Senedd for asking a question on women's rights and safety. She's been very courageous in the way she has spoken up. It's extraordinary that in the floor of the Senedd a question can simply go unanswered, with just a response that 'Only a bigot would ask that question'. Welsh democracy is in an appalling mess. If they're confident they're right, and women are not actually at risk at all they should be able to answer the question with all the evidence they have and the research they did when they carefully assessed the implications of their policy. "Look, a bigot!" does not cover up the fact that they have no evidence and no answers to these questions.

I've been writing to my Senedd member about this issue for a couple of years now - emails about the RSE curriculum and the LGBTQ+ action plan went unanswered, even after multiple chasers. I only got a meeting by saying that I wanted to talk about an issue to do with school, and they claimed they'd responded to my emails but they must have gone into spam! It's appalling.

Plus the irony of women's concerns being dismissed as 'shrill' following a SILENT PROTEST about how they're not being heard. Perhaps Welsh women need to ask the questions in a really deep booming voice and then we might finally get an answer.

Oh darn he missed 'hysterical' for a full house in mysogenist bingo 🙄

I also think ‘angry, attacking, righteous man’ has become MD’s standard response when he facing questions in Senedd he does not have an answer to.

He obviously thought it worked well in his response to the Welsh Tories when he couldn’t explain how he was going to fix the utter mess the NHS in Wales is in, so he must have decided to deploy it to every difficult question.

Proving that great quote, ‘I am always delighted when my opponents resort to personal attacks as I know that means they don’t have a single political argument left’.

This. Excactly this. I cannot believe I have ever voted Labour. They are a complete disgrace.

Excellent post.

Dogwhistle 🙄

Back when I was really trying to make it all make sense, I asked questions to TRAs on Twitter and even though I was approaching the subject with a totally open mind (actually hoping to understand how gender identity worked and be back on the 'right' side) all my questions were called dog whistles and nobody would (could?) answer.

I think Drakeford used to be a social worker and I wonder if his prioritising of one type of “vulnerable” person (trans people) over another (women) is linked to the pattern we sometimes see in serious case reviews where social workers prioritise the needs and wishes of abusive parents over children who are at risk. Sometimes the social workers have had the wool pulled over their eyes by devious/needy adults and usually the adults have their own vulnerabilities and dreadful back stories. I suppose what I’m getting at is the tendency of some social workers to be so sympathetic to a sob story that they lose all sense of who is in fact the most in need of protection and this is then exploited. None of this, of course, is any excuse for how Drakeford behaved.

Agree.

The use of 'dogwhistle' is a red flag.

If you look at the Hannah Blythn clip I posted earlier you will see Jane Hutt, a former feminist icon in Wales, nodding away with what Blythn is saying. This is a woman who once did a lot of good for the women of Wales now trampling on them.

In the past Senedd politicians who have used this kind of misogynistic language in session have been called on to apologise. This is the First Minister, leader of our government, reading from a pre-prepared misogynistic response — because there is no other way of responding to perfectly rational, reasonable enquiries than to go into attack mode.

I don't know if your parents are aware of the rumours going round that Drakeford's son, in jail for rape, has transitioned in prison and may be having a hard time as a result — hence Drakeford's apparently emotional involvement in this issue. To some people this seems the only explanation for the way he is behaving.

I now recognise this character 'angry, attacking, righteous man' throughout Labour. To be fair, I think it is gender neutral as a phrase. This seems to be largely how Labour operates whatever sex the politician. Ad homs, sneers, smears, insults.

Self-justification fallacy seems to be baked in. They can do no wrong, for they are the Virtuous Ones.

I have leftish-centrist views, but I can't abide Labour.

It reminds me of the politician in Aus calling women turds

Left wing men are cut from the same cloth

Anyway due to this thread I’ve sent a thank you to Laura Anne Jones, the more the support is recognised the better

worrieddragon · Today 09:49

It's extraordinary that in the floor of the Senedd a question can simply go unanswered, with just a response that 'Only a bigot would ask that question'.

Drakeford is an odious moral pygmy. He couldn't answer the question, because he didn't want to, as he knows that any response from a TRA angle would make him look utterly ridiculous.

He's playing to the "righteous, right on" brigade, who see fascists round every corner. I hope he does a Full Sturgeon, too, with legal investigations into him and his nasty chums.

And yet despite everything he says and does he'll still get voted back in here. I don't know what it would take for Labour to lose power, I blame the people like my Grandmother who won't vote for anyone else because apparently "Labour have done so much for Wales" 🤦‍♀️

AlecTrevelyan006 · Today 08:21
Why is he so angry?

I read his wife died in January, and that during lock-down he was mostly separated from her because of vulnerabilities.

His behaviour here was unacceptable though. He should step down if he is not OK.

Personal sadness aside I think Labour are buoyed by local election results and will react like this generally

You can see who his rapist Son got his views on women from.

Pluvia · Today 10:43
I don't know if your parents are aware of the rumours going round that Drakeford's son, in jail for rape, has transitioned in prison and may be having a hard time as a result — hence Drakeford's apparently emotional involvement in this issue. To some people this seems the only explanation for the way he is behaving

Ah. His son may be a misogynist too if he was fairly convicted of rape, and he would be another rapist saying he is really a woman. Can this possibly be true though? It would be such a coincidence given the recent events around the (male) rapist “Isla Bryson” wanting to change gender in prison.

If this is true Mark Drakeford should recuse himself from this subject.

His son was convicted of rape (and may be autistic).

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45600558

His son was convicted of a very nasty rape preceded by beating the woman, he’d gagged with her underwear, with a paddle. She will never get over it.

He had also tried to meet a 15 year old for sex.

He sounds mentally unsound though with autism, and the IQ of a 10 year old. He must be very vulnerable in prison. Perhaps he does say he is a trans woman now.

His father must be very disturbed by what has happened, and his wife’s death. But that does not give him the right to take his fury and unhappiness out on a female member of the Senedd.

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/jonathan-drakeford-jailed-rape-assault-15181933

There's more detail in this article about the rape and assault and the child sex offence he was also jailed for:

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/jonathan-drakeford-jailed-rape-assault-15181933

At his trial the court was told that he had an IQ of 68 and is autistic.

Not wanting to answer questions on this topic is a standard Labour position though

I wouldn’t feel too comfortable that it’s only for a man going through sad stuff

Anyone who watched that would know that Laura Ann Jones was far from "shrill". She spoke calmly in a normal tone of voice. But I guess whenever women say things men don't like, that makes them "shrill".

Drakeford is vile. Just vile.