‘Anti-feminist’ party wants to unseat Labour’s shadow equalities minister
Labour MP Gloria De Piero will face a new challenge in May’s election – facing off against an ‘anti-feminist’ party.
The MP for Ashfield and Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities – who would take the equalities brief if Labour wins the next election – will be challenged by Mike Buchanan.
A former Tory consultant, Mr Buchanan is the leader of the ‘Justice for Men and Boys (And the Women Who Love Them)’ party – who says he aims to “make feminism a dirty word”.
The party’s manifesto also cites a debunked Daily Mail story that claimed the NHS is funding a sperm bank “for lesbians”.
The manifesto claims: “Fatherhood is deemed unnecessary by the state, so taxpayers are subsidizing sperm banks for single women and lesbians.”
It also states: “Children’s social values are now being shaped by politically correct broader society rather than by their biological parents.”
Mr Buchanan also pledges to scrap part of the Equality Act that affects women and LGBT people in recruitment- writing: “The terms in the Equality Act 2010 advantaging people with ‘protected characteristics’ should be scrapped.
“The terms amount in practice to positive discrimination in favour of women.”
The prospective parliamentary candidate – who has written a number of anti-feminist books and raised funds through a crowdfunding campaign – told Buzzfeed: “Feminism is a hatred, and it should be a badge of shame.
“To call yourself a feminist should be no more acceptable than calling yourself a bigot or a sexist or a fascist.
“It is a deeply vile, corrupting ideology and the idea it’s a benign movement about gender equality is dangerous nonsense.”
He added: “Rather than engage with me on the issues, people call me sexist… I’d suggest those people simply need to educate themselves about gender politics.”
The party says it is also “keen” to field a candidate in Loughborough – the seat of the current Conservative Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan.
