Labour infighting over trans issues reignited by Cass Review

[IwantToRetire]

But Rosie Duffield, a Labour MP placed under investigation by the party last year for campaigning against gender ideology, pointed out that women who had exposed the scandal had been “blanked, sidelined and dismissed” by male leaders simply for speaking up.

And feminist Julie Bindel demanded an apology from Mr Streeting for failing to support her gender-critical views when he was president of the National Union of Students.

In reply to Ms Bindel’s accusation, Mr Streeting replied: “From memory (16 years on, so correct me if I’m wrong!) I replied to confirm that you weren’t on NUS’ no platform policy and as this was in relation to a motion passed by the autonomous women’s campaign I was not empowered to overturn it (not least as a male president!).”

This prompted Ms Duffield to retweet the (Les Streeting) statement, with the message: “To the many women blanked, sidelined, dismissed by male leaders when speaking up and exposing this for years.”

And Ms Bindel wrote: “Glad to see you are now openly critical of the gender ideology that led to the atrocities against children outlined in the Cass report.

“I am open to accepting an apology from you. In 2008, when you were NUS president, I was no-platformed alongside five fascist groups for ‘transphobia’.

“I contacted you and asked for your help. You gave none. I asked you to condemn those that had orchestrated the no-platforming, and you refused.

“Have you any idea of the reputational damage this caused me? How it gave others permission to no-platform, denounce and defame me?
“How it meant that I could be slandered by other organisations, and so many, many universities around the UK and elsewhere? If this sounds bitter then good, because I am.”

To this message, Ms Duffield said: “Thank you for leading us all here Julie. Without you, most of us wouldn’t have had a clue what had been happening to children who were far too young to have the critical faculties or agency to consent.”

Extracts not full article in Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/10/labour-infighting-over-trans-issues-reignited-cass-review/

Also at https://archive.ph/IfNp8

Earlier thread about Wes Streeting https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5047018-wes-streeting-labour-shadow-health-secretary-pledges-support-for-the-cass-reviews-evidence-led-recommendations-and-our-determination-to-put-childrens-health-and-wellbeing-above-the-political-fray

Yes, that's true re Gaza / Israel.

It just seems very contradictory to be flying high in the polls, but also consistently losing your members.

I am looking forward to the manifestos, it has to be said, as Labour will have to pin their flag to the mast and we should get a clear idea about what they're actually thinking.

What I meant is, he changed his mind ages ago so it's a bit off to act like he's "u turned" because of the Cass review.

What?
I think the members who are leaving are mainly Muslims and pro-Palestinian voters who don't like Starmers reluctance to call for an unequivocal ceasefire. I see it as aconsequence of Starmers strong and consistent position on anti semitism to be honest.
Sunak has a similar issue around losing members to reform for not being hard enough on immigration. But he's responding differently.

I think the members who are leaving are mainly Muslims and pro-Palestinian voters who don't like Starmers reluctance to call for an unequivocal ceasefire. I see it as aconsequence of Starmers strong and consistent position on anti semitism to be honest.

Some of them may be.

Some, possibly many, will be the likes of Little Owen Jones

On Never Mind the Ballots, Mr Streeting said: “I think we’ve got to ask ourselves why is it that we’ve seen medical interventions that have been given on the basis of very weak evidence?
“How is it that clinicians have been silenced or afraid to come forward?

Zero self awareness.

Labour expelled female members concerned about that medicalisation and said they didn’t want us to vote for them, Conservative's didn’t

Just because they are losing members doesn't mean they will lose the election. They are still doing well in the polls, mainly I think because people now want the Tories out at all costs.

Perhaps someone at HQ will have the necessary intelligence and awareness to point out that Labour party members aren't going to be the ones who win or lose them this election, and so when it comes to gender - or Israel vs Palestine, for that matter - they need to tap into what the broader electorate actually thinks and feels, rather than their own members.

No, I'm aware of that.

But as you say, if they're losing their hardcore supporters (which members are, as they're paying to support them), they need to appeal more broadly to the electorate in general (even to the 'wrong kind' of voter, i.e. Sun reader, as per the article). That is something which Labour (party and supporters) don't appear to like, I think.

Ultimately, the country is pretty centrist overall, appealing to the masses means having a centrist lean.

He may have been thinking, "Oh shit, are we the baddies?" for a while, but I think it's quite clear that the Cass review has given him the confidence to come out and say that he, and by implication Labour, may have got this wrong.

Here we have Dr Hilary Cass, a consultant paediatrician in the much-beloved NHS, i.e. someone voters are more likely to want to listen to than any politician, basically saying, "Stop the train, it's heading in the wrong direction."

I think Wes Streeting is also now reading the writing on the wall and realising that Keir "1% of women have a penis" Starmer, Lisa Nandy, Angela Rayner, Nadia Whittome, David Lammy, Stella Creasy and all the others who have said absolutely batshit insane things and dismissed all non-believers as bigots do not have the backing of the public.

I've just been reading a bit more about Wes Streeting. I think he sees himself as a future prime minister and he could well be. He's a proper working class Londoner which will appeal to traditional Labour voters. He's gay, which will appeal to more socially liberal voters. He's clearly very bright. He's also a career politician and only 41 years old, which means he's got his eyes on more than just the next election but on the long term.

At times I've been unimpressed with his dithering over this issue, but he could be the person to take Labour in a more sensible direction and make them a party I could vote for at some point in the future. Let's see.

Tony Blair is the only Labour leader in my lifetime to have properly understood this.

And Blair got Murdoch's backing pre-'97 election, however distasteful some Labour supporters found that.

There was a fascinating documentary about Blair's Labour and his Murdoch links a while ago. Worth a watch.

Yes, this.

This is why the LabourUK subreddit is full of hatred for Labour - they are the hardcore lefties who want to lob rocks from the sidelines, they don’t want to be part of the establishment, which happens as soon as Labour win.

They are LOJ and his BFFs.

At times I've been unimpressed with his dithering over this issue,

I hardly think being involved in the machinations of "Labour Against Transphobia" could be classed as "dithering".

Specifically Wes Streeting, wasn't it? Cosying up with that Lily Madigan on a secret Facebook group, to make a list of women to dismiss. Venice Allen taped her interview, where she was summoned to the headmasters office, to be told she was expelled.

Has anyone heard a peep from Madigan lately?

Is it possible that Lily is now a Lad Again?

IIRC Lily didn’t actually finish the Politics degree Lily started at Goldsmiths to great fanfare …

I'm not excusing that at all.

I think ultimately he is a politician and due to being in an echo chamber he misjudged which way the wind was blowing. He thought that taking a stand against "transphobia" would be more beneficial to him than taking a stand for women and children.

As a gay man, he is personally quite far removed from the women's rights perspective. He isn't a woman, he isn't in a relationship with a woman, he doesn't have children. Not only has he no personal experience of what it is like to be a woman, experiencing constant low level sexual harassment from men, constant fear of more serious male violence, the constant male gaze, constant objectification, he also doesn't have a wife or girlfriend at home saying, "I hate the new gender neutral toilets at work" or "I had a horrible experience with a really creepy man today". When women talk about needing a single sex rape crisis group or not wanting to share changing rooms with the opposite sex, he's not imagining his girlfriend or wife or daughter in that space.

But children, mainly gay and neurodiverse children? Children from troubled backgrounds? That, he can perhaps identify with. He could have been one of them. As one of many siblings, he most likely has young nieces and nephews who could be those children today.

And of course, harm to children is one thing which can be guaranteed to get voters seriously angry.

So it's not really surprising that he has reacted in this way to Cass, but not to the concerns women have been raising about their own rights.

He may have been thinking, "Oh shit, are we the baddies?" for a while, but I think it's quite clear that the Cass review has given him the confidence to come out and say that he, and by implication Labour, may have got this wrong.

it's absolutely galling that women everywhere have been saying the exact same thing as Cass.

He has heard it from all sides. They all have.

There's nothing new in the report.

It does the opposite of fill me with confidence when it couldn't be clearer that they simply don't listen to women.

Even if it's perfectly obvious that what we're saying is correct, they have to wait for an appeal to authority before they're willing to acknowledge it.

Are they listening to women about women's sports? Toilets and changing rooms? AGP?

Or do we have to get a fucking report about all that too.

7 years ago! When Corbyn was running the party and Maria Miller in Theresa May's government was proposing self ID!

It's a different world now, thanks to feminists but also a change of leadership in both parties.

Way back when all this started, Blair apparently told labour not to go down the TWAW route. That they would be getting it wrong.

Just to add, I don't think it's because he cares particularly, but he could see that politically it was a mistake.

This.

With Blair I think it could be a bit of column A 'political mistake' and a bit of column B 'personal/religious/social-conservative views'.

Anyone, anyone at all who thought that Lily Madigan had any credibility is seriously suspect. Being capable of thinking it is a concern. Thinking it a mere seven years ago is extremely worrying.

What did they make him? Women's officer? A 19-year-old boy who couldn't string two words together and wrote period poverty on his hand with a sharpie?

Right. So you're saying he u turned but just debating exactly when he u turned.. As long as we agree that he did indeed u turn then OK. Any politician who u turns needs to consider why they made a statement which was so horribly harmful.