Keir Starmer 'doesn't have the balls' to say true views on gender ruling, Kemi Badenoch claims

Kemi Badenoch has labelled Sir Keir Starmer a “weather vane who twists in the wind” as she claimed he “doesn’t have the balls” to express his views on gender.

The Conservative Party leader stepped up her attack on the Prime Minister after also accusing Labour ministers of lying about support for female-only spaces following Sir Keir’s U-turn on his views about transgender women.

Mrs Badenoch also claimed Sir Keir “can’t bring himself to admit that he was wrong” and demanded the Prime Minister apologise to the “very brave” Independent MP Rosie Duffield , who she claimed was forced out of the party.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs Badenoch asked: “Does the Prime Minister now accept that when he said that it was the law that trans women were women, he was wrong?”

Sir Keir replied: “Let me be clear, I welcome the Supreme Court ruling on this issue. It brings clarity and it will give confidence to women and, of course, to service providers.

“The Equality and Human Rights Commission will now issue updated guidance, and it is important that that happens and that all service providers then act accordingly.

“This Government’s approach, and my approach, has been as follows: to support and implement the Supreme Court ruling, and we will, to continue to protect single-sex spaces based on biological sex, and we will, but also to ensure that trans people are treated with respect, and we will, and to ensure that everybody is given dignity in their everyday lives.

“I do think this is the time now to lower the temperature, to move forward, and to conduct this debate with the care and compassion that it deserves. And I think that should unite the whole House.”

He went on to accuse Mrs Badenoch of being a “spectator, not a leader” as he criticised her record in government, with the Tory leader defending her work and questioning why Labour MPs had challenged the Supreme Court ruling.

Mrs Badenoch went on to say: “He’s clearly so uncomfortable talking about this subject. This is a choice between a Conservative Party that stood up for common sense and a Labour Party that bent the knee to every passing fad.

“This is a question about moral courage, about doing the right thing even when it is difficult, and the truth is he doesn’t have the balls. The Prime Minister only tells people what they want to hear, he is a weather vane who twists in the wind.

The Prime Minister insisted he supported the ruling | House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

“He cheered an ideology that denied safe spaces to women and girls because he thought it was cool to do so. He hounded a brave female MP out of his party for telling the truth he accepts now. And now he is hiding behind the Supreme Court judgment and isn’t that because he doesn’t know what he actually believes?”

Sir Keir replied: “I can only assume that sounded better when she did it in the mirror earlier on. The truth is it doesn’t really matter what the Leader of the Opposition says because nobody believes, none of them thinks she’s going to lead them into the next election anyway.”

The session also saw the Labour leader claim Robert Jenrick was “away plotting” and that the shadow justice secretary would be “fighting over the bones of the Tory party” with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

He added on Mr Farage: “The member for Clacton is going to do what he always does – eat the Tory party for breakfast.”