Keir Starmer slams Rishi Sunak for making trans jibe in front of Brianna Ghey’s mother

Sir Keir Starmer has slammed Rishi Sunak for making a joke about trans people during Prime Minister’s Questions whilst Brianna Ghey’s mother was in the chamber.

The prime minister cruelly joked in the House of Commons that the Labour leader had changed his position on “defining a woman”, accusing him of “breaking every single promise he was elected on.”

“I think I have counted almost 30 in the last year”, Sunak said of Starmer. “Pensions, planning, peerages, public sector pay, tuition fees, childcare, second referendums, defining a woman, although in fairness that was only 99 percent of a u-turn.”

After standing to respond, a stoney-faced Starmer replied: “Of all the weeks to say that, when Brianna’s mother is in this chamber. Shame.”

He added: “Parading as a man of integrity when he’s got absolutely no responsibility.”

Sunak, who was previously heard mocking trans women in leaked footage shared with PinkNews last year, did not apologise for the remark after he was asked to in the Commons.

His spokesperson has denied that the comment was transphobic, noting that it was “legitimate for the leader of the party to point out U-turns,” Sky News reported.

Elsewhere, as Starmer is set to meet with Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghey, later today, a Labour spokesperson said: “We don’t think the country wants or deserves a prime minister that is happy to use minorities as a punchbag. His comments were deeply offensive to trans people. He should reflect on his comments and apologise.”

Last Friday (2 February), Brianna’s two teenage killers were named as the pair were sentenced for murdering the trans schoolgirl in February 2023. She was stabbed 28 times.

At the time of Brianna’s murder, Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe were both 15 and had created a “kill list” with four other teenagers named.

As he read his victim impact statement at Manchester Crown Court, Brianna’s father Peter Spooner described Jenkinson and Ratcliffe as “pure evil.”

“Now my world has been torn apart. Justice may have been done but no amount of time in prison will be enough for these monsters,” he said.

“I cannot call them children because that makes them sound naive or vulnerable, which they are not – they are pure evil. Brianna was the vulnerable one.”