Keir Starmer applauded after slamming Rishi Sunak trans joke on BBC Question Time

Jun 21
Written by Sophie Perry

YORK, ENGLAND - JUNE 20: Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer speaking during tonight's four party leadership Question Time Election special on June 20, 2024 in York, England. In a two-hour special, hosted by Fiona Bruce, Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey, and Scottish National Party leader John Swinney answered questions from the studio audience. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Keir Starmer took a swipe at Rishi Sunak’s trans rhetoric on BBC Question Time. (Stefan Rousseau/WPA Pool/Getty)

Keir Starmer was applauded by members of the public after he condemned Rishi Sunak for an anti-trans joke the prime minister had made in the House of Commons while the mother of murdered transgender teen Brianna Ghey was present.

The leaders of the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and the SNP faced tough questions from a Question Time audience on Thursday (20 June).

Starmer, who political pundits believe will be the next prime minister, answered a question the audience regarding his definition of a woman and his criticism of gender-critical fellow Labour politician Rosie Duffield in 2021.

With the general election just two weeks away, Starmer said: “On the biology, I agree with what Tony Blair said the other day in relation to men having penises and women having vaginas.”

When probed if he had “changed his position” on the topic, the Labour leader replied: “There are some people who don’t identify with the gender that they are born into and they go through a lot of anxiety and distress, and my view in life is to respect and give dignity to everyone, whatever their position. And I will always do that.”

Addressing the point about Duffield, Starmer added: “I was worried at the time by the way in which the debate was being conducted because it got very toxic, very divided, very hard line and we lost sight of people in that.

“That drags you to a place where we end up, as we did end up, with the prime minister of the United Kingdom making a trans joke in parliament when the mother of a murdered trans teenager was watching on.”

The incident happened in February during Prime Minister’s Questions when Sunak attacked what he saw as Starmer flip-flopping on issues.

Trans Awareness Week: Being trans in the UK — Rishi Sunak has a history of making anti-trans remarks. (Getty Images)

“I think I have counted almost 30 in the [past] year,” Sunak said. “Pensions, planning, peerages, public sector pay, tuition fees, childcare, second referendums, defining a woman, although in fairness that was only 99 per cent of a U-turn.”

In response, Starmer said: “Of all the weeks to say that, when Brianna’s mother is in this chamber. Shame. [The PM] is parading as a man of integrity when he’s got absolutely no responsibility.”

This was not the first time Sunak was heard mocking trans people. Leaked footage obtained exclusively by PinkNews in June 2023 showed him joking about “women having penises” and making fun of Lib Dem leader Ed Davey’s support of trans rights.