JK Rowling has taken aim at Sir Keir Starmer for his stance on trans issues after he excluded Rosie Duffield from a Labour campaign event on Thursday.
Duffield – despite being the only elected Labour MP in Kent – has a strained relationship with Starmer, and was notably absent from proceedings as the party’s election campaign kicked off at Gillingham Football Club yesterday.
When asked if she had been invited to the event, she told GB News: “No, in the seven years since being elected, I have never had an official leadership visit… I was not invited to this or any of the other recent events in Kent.”
No other Labour MPs from Kent were invited to the event, with Labour preferring to highlight new candidates ahead of the July 4 election, GB News understands.
The MP for Canterbury has been vocal on trans issues and the protection of women’s spaces, and has repeatedly clashed with the Labour leadership as a result of her stance.
JK Rowling leapt to the MP’s defence when her apparent exclusion came to light
PA
It’s thought Duffield had only found out about the event online when people messaged her to ask why she wasn’t there.
But JK Rowling leapt to the MP’s defence when her apparent exclusion came to light; the Harry Potter author said on social media: “It’s hard not to conclude that in spite of recent attempts at back-pedalling, Sir Keir Starmer’s view on what Rosie Duffield and women in general are allowed to say about their own bodies hasn’t changed since 2021.”
Rowling’s remarks captioned a photo of the Labour leader which contained a quotation attributed to Starmer reading: “[The phrase ‘only women have a cervix’] is something that shouldn’t be said. It is not right.”
Duffield has previously compared her relationship with the Labour party to an “abusive relationship”.
MORE ON JK ROWLING:
Rosie Duffield has repeatedly clashed with the Labour leadership as a result of her trans stance
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The MP for Canterbury said: “What I feel now, after six years off being cold-shouldered by the Labour Party, conjures memories of how I felt in that abusive relationship.
“When I come home at night, I feel low-level trauma at my political isolation.”
Starmer recently held a meeting with Duffield, which had been dubbed “peace talks” following the defection of fellow Kent MP Natalie Elphicke from the Conservatives.
But after the meeting, the Canterbury MP said it had lasted just 17 minutes – and claimed she received no apology.
Rowling too has been a vocal “gender-critical” voice for years
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