The mom of murdered teenage Brianna Ghey has damaged her silence after Rishi Sunak made a jibe about transgender folks throughout Prime Minister’s Questions.
In a touch upon her Peace & Mind UK Facebook web page, Esther Ghey mentioned: “I don’t wish to comment on reports of wording or comments recently made. My focus is on creating a positive change and a lasting legacy for Brianna.
“Through Peace & Mind, we need to enhance lives by empowering folks, giving them the instruments they should construct psychological resilience, empathy, and self-compassion by way of mindfulness. In creating these expertise, I hope that we will create a extra understanding, peaceable, and stronger society for everybody.”
Ms Ghey was in Parliament to attend a debate on mindfulness yesterday with her MP Charlotte Nichols, when the Prime Minister tried to mock Keir Starmer over his position on trans people. Moments earlier, Mr Starmer had praised her “unwavering bravery” after two teenagers were jailed for the murder of her 16-year-old daughter Brianna last year.
Mr Sunak accused Mr Starmer of failing to stand by his commitments and U-turning on “defining a lady”. “Although, in fairness, that was only 99% of a U-turn,” he joked as he referenced comments the Labour leader previously made when he said 99.9% of women don’t have male genitalia.
As Tory MPs howled with laughter, Mr Starmer said: “Of all of the weeks to say that when Brianna’s mom is on this chamber – disgrace. Parading as a person of integrity when he is obtained completely no duty.”
Brianna’s father Peter Spooner yesterday called on Mr Sunak to apologise for the “degrading” and “dehumanising” comments. He said he was shocked and “disgusted” with Mr Sunak’s jibe, adding: “Identities of individuals shouldn’t be utilized in that method, and I personally really feel shocked by his feedback.”
But Mr Sunak refused to apologise, insisting his comments were “completely legit” because he was pointing out Keir Starmer’s U-turns. Asked if he would apologise, he told reporters today: “If you take a look at what I mentioned, I used to be very clear, speaking about Keir Starmer’s confirmed observe report of U-turns on main insurance policies as a result of he does not have a plan.
“A degree solely confirmed by immediately’s stories that the Labour Party and Keir Starmer are apparently planning to reverse on their signature economic green spending policy. That just demonstrates the point I was making. He’s someone who has just consistently changed his mind on a whole range of major things. I think that is an absolutely legitimate thing to point out and it demonstrates that he doesn’t have a plan for the country.”
Earlier a Tory minister struggled to defend the PM’s feedback as he did not say six occasions whether or not they had been “respectful” or “appropriate”. Asked whether or not the joke was “appropriate” whereas Esther was in Parliament, the policing minister Chris Philp claimed on BBC Breakfast: “The PM wasn’t talking about trans issues.
“He actually wasn’t speaking about Brianna in that passage. He was speaking about Keir Starmer’s report of U-turns on a complete vary of various points.” Pressed again on whether the remark was “respectful”, Mr Philp again said the PM was highlighting U-turns from the Labour leader.
In total, the Tory minister deflected the question six times and refused to say whether the comments were respectful. He added: “The Prime Minister made no reference in any respect to any particular person trans folks. It was Keir Starmer who launched that. The Prime Minister was making a degree about Labour’s very quite a few flip-flops.”
Mr Philp also said the PM “could be very blissful” to meet Brianna’s family, and that Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan wanted to speak to Ms Ghey about online safety. Ms Ghey has been invited to a meeting, though it has not yet been confirmed whether or when it will take place.
Since the court case finished last week Ms Ghey has received plaudits for her campaign work and is calling for a law to ensure phones are “appropriate” for kids. She is urging MPs to adopt a ban on social media apps on smartphones for under 16s and also wants software to alert parents when their children are searching harmful content online.
Scarlett Jenkinson, who was jailed for life last week alongside Eddie Ratcliffe, had viewed extreme violence on the “darkish net” before murdering Brianna. Last year Ms Ghey set up the Peace of Mind campaign to help raise cash to train teachers in mindfulness techniques and help kids deal with negative emotions. She has previously said creating the campaign helped her “give attention to one thing constructive” and has meant “one thing good has come out of the tragic scenario.”