Labour canvasser today

[SirSamVimesCityWatch]

I'm in one the constituencies with a by-election coming up.

Just had a labour canvasser (woman, mid/late fifties) knock to ask if I was voting. I said yes I would be.

She asked if I knew who I was voting for. I asked if she knew what a woman was. I told her I was a single issue voter and that was the only issue that was going to decide how I voted.

Her response: "I believe a woman is anyone who believes themself to be a woman".

I told her in that case I have nothing else to say to her, and closed the door.

I would have loved to have actually put some of the issues to her (rapists in prisons, assaults in mixed sex spaces, including schools, destruction of women's sports etc) but my heart was already racing and I knew it would be like talking to a brick wall anyway.

But anyway - at least that's a clear pile in the eye for the whole 'it doesn't come up on the doorstep' nonsense.

So, I'm either voting Tory or SDP.

I would have expected the local party to de-select him but maybe they feel they can't. Hadn't he also lied about some of his educational qualifications? Fleeing the scene of a crash is not the behaviour we want in our elected representatives regardless of what they are wearing at the time 🙄.

The current political landscape is so thoroughly depressing. I went to see my MP back in 2018 about the issues with the self-ID proposals his party was proposing to introduce (had thread on here at the time under different name). He agreed with my concerns and promised to put me in touch with the party lead on equalities to discuss further. Never heard anything further.

Every election since then, I've emailed all candidates standing in my constituency asking for them to explain how they'll guarantee sex-based rights for women including protecting single sex spaces. Never had a reply from any of them.

As a result, I've spoilt my ballot ever since whilst making it clear why I'm not voting for any of the candidates. I'll be doing the same next election unless any of the candidates come back to me explaining how they will indeed protect my rights.

So, Tory PM Theresa May doesn't matter because she stopped being PM to be followed by Tory PM Boris Johnson. And Tory PM Boris Johnson doesn't matter because he stopped being PM last year. And what Tory PM Sunak said before he was PM doesn't matter because???

After becoming PM, Sunak appointed Gillian I don't know what a girl is Keegan to head of Education. Jamie I know what a woman is cos I'm going to be one. Hey kids, trans early Wallis was appointed to Women's and Equalities.

Can you see what it is yet?

Jamie Wallis perhaps took his cue from Family Guy.

Jamie is textbook TRA. Not only did he plead Trans, his background is dodgy software. The Sugar Daddy website. A service that could clear paedophile records from the Internet and multiple investigations from Trading Standards.

But apparently Jamie's influence in government is irrelevant because he's a Tory.

Don't vote Labour because you can bet your bottom dollar that Corbyn will miraculously reappear larger than life all is forgiven and shunting out a Labour PM in a orchestrated party coup! Do we need 4 more years of the dreadful Tories? No, don't spoil your ballot paper make it count, if the Liberals are running in your area (aka not the LibDems) then vote for them or any minority paper apart from the Greens, Make your vote count with a protest vote, it does work and it is the only way to achieve change and a better future, this countries future is not two-party politics!

SirSamVimesCityWatch I did exactly the same. Woman knocked on the door, and I said I was unable to vote for the Labour Party due to their stance on women. She just nodded and walked off. I too would have liked a longer discussion but my heart was racing, it was the first time I'd said anything like that to anyone outside of my family. But it clearly is coming up on the doorstep for them!

JW has no influence in government. He sits on the Women and Equalities Select Committee. He was elected to a seat on this committee by secret ballot of Conservative MPs. Members of Select Committees are fiercely independent of Government since their role is to hold the relevant department to account.

Yes that's right. @TooBigForMyBoots I had forgotten about the Sugar Daddy website stuff as well. Again not what I expect in an MP. The only very weak defence to the lack of due diligence from the Welsh Tories in choosing him as their candidate is that they didn't expect him to win in a month of Sundays lol.

So a secret ballot of Tory MPs elected a dodgy as fuck Trans Woke Bro onto Women's and Equalities. What does that tell you about the Tories?

Having watched the recent Equality Committee examination of the EHRC I think it's a good thing overall that all the extremists are on that Committee as their batshit ideas and prejudices get a public airing and rebuttal on the record.

There's a thread on it if anyone wants to watch that happening.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4847393-wesc-scrutiny-session-of-ehrc-today-at-145pm?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

This is it.

It tells me that there are lots of gender extremists around and extremists vote them onto this committee.

What it doesn't tell me is that JW has any influence over Government. JW was elected in the same way (i.e. democratically) as every other committee member. You may not like the results of a democratic process but, in lieu of a better system.....

I'd have to know who was on the "secret panel"? And why was it secret, do you know? Then, what it would tell me would be about who was on the panel, not about everybody who was a Conservative MP.

You can't have missed the fact that it has only been Conservative MPs speaking out on the issue and actually taking action? ( apart from Rosie Duffield, Labour). Not one member from any other party, apart from Joanna Cherry of the SNP, has spoken out.

Why do you think that is?

Do you think that it is maybe because free speech and conscience is given more free reign in the Tory party - and those with most sway have put their foot down when it comes to blocking Gender self Id both in England and in Scotland; in commisioning the Cass Review, and now giving new instruction to schools and to prisons regarding social transitioning and male offenders being placed in women's jails?

Could you respond to some of these points, please, and at least acknowledege the truth of it?

I'd have to know who was on the "secret panel"? And why was it secret, do you know? Then, what it would tell me would be about who was on the panel, not about everybody who was a Conservative MP.

She didn't say secret panel, she said secret ballot.

Which just means the same as any election, your vote is anonymous and made in private.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/election-select-committee-chairs-and-members

Totally agree that there is a significant contrast in how free MPS of different parties are to voice their own opinions on this. Apparently, all parties elect their allotted number of committee members via secret ballot, not just the Tories. Whether they all bother to vote would be interesting to know.

Exactly. JW's appointment is meaningless without knowing any numbers of voting Tories. It could have been 5 of them having a laugh.

Again, not wanting to vote Labour on their current showing does not automatically translate into 'will therefore vote Tory'. It's more likely to mean 'will spoil ballot' in my case. And before anyone says 'well you'll let the Tories in', that's on Labour. Show me something I want to vote for, and I will. Call me a dinosaur/rights-hoarding bigot and I, erm, won't be voting for you.

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/381/committee-of-selection

There is a Committee of Selection.

Make of that what you will!

One would imagine that those that do bother tend to be the most invested in the issue - either one way or other.

By the way, does anyone know what has become of Jackie Doyle Price ( Tory MP on women and equalities) I liked her a lot and thought she performed really well.

Well if it's just a few Tories having a laugh that would make it alright then. His appointment is not pointless, he's not there to make the tea.

I'm not asking anyone to vote Labour. I've never voted for them. I don't defend them. But I'm fucked if I'm going to let the lie that the Tories give a shit about women go unchallenged. The Tories happily and easily lie out of their faces on this issue. Deeds, well they are few and far between. Even now in 2023, they're still saying some men belong in women's prisons and are unable to provide guidance to schools.

Reports of a massive backlash to Tory PM May's proposals have been greatly exaggerated. The Tories are the party that ceded our rights to the TRAs and its such a shame that they don't extend their beliefs in free speech and conscience to the women reported to the police/their employers for retweeting JKR.

They are and will continue to be fuckers to women for as long as they're in power.

I'm not sure what to make of that particular panel, myself - can anyone elnlighten us to the views of those particular MPs on this issue?

Do you think you might respond to any of my points above where I have evidenced where Conservative party MPs have given a shit about this issue?
Clinging to tribalistic hatred is no substitute for more a nuanced analysis.

And where did I say it would be ok? My point is that I v much doubt the Tories take that appointment seriously at all, because I'm in no doubt that the only reason they've battened on to women's rights as an issue is because they can see what an utter clusterfuck has been happening north of the border, and they saw how unpopular rapists in women's prisons is with voter (one would not have thought that would need a focus group, but we are where we are). Plus the 'what is a woman' question makes Labour & the LibDems look utterly ridiculous, so of course they keep on pressing it. As someone said upthread, the choice at the moment is between shit and even shitter in terms of women's rights. Not inspiring in the least.

Jamie Wallis is a joke. No one locally expected him to win in 2019 which is why no proper due diligence was done on him at the time (see Private Eyes going back yonks for all his dodginess, or look at his Wiki entry). He won because of Brexit. I v much doubt he'll hold his seat next time round.

Exactly, having done so much damage, the Tories are still failing to take the situation seriously. Why? Because they don't give a shit about women's rights. They spin on a sixpence and will say whatever, whenever as I've detailed above wrt PMs May, Johnson and Sunak.

Clinging to tribalistic party political loyalty is detrimental to women. Voting Tory is detrimental to women.