‘Tell the truth Liz!’ Kemi Badenoch calls out Truss and Penny Mordaunt ‘It’s on record!’
Kemi #Kemi
Kemi says ‘ tell the truth Liz’ over trans comments
Penny Mordaunt was asked to clarify her position on gender identity after claims she previously supported gender self-identification then changed her mind. She said she has “never been in favour of self-ID” She added: “I can’t imagine why people are not comprehending what I say and have been regurgitating this issue for weeks and weeks, but I’m happy to state my position and evidence to back it up.
“I took through a consultation looking at the Gender Recognition Act, I’ve never been in favour of self-ID.
“I would have made the system much better but I would not have divorced it from healthcare.
“I’m a woman, I’m a biological woman, if I had a mastectomy I would still be a woman – I’m a biological woman in every cell in my body.
“I’m also legally a woman and some people who are born male go through a process and are issued at the end of that process with a legal document in their new gender, but that does not mean they are identical to me.”
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Kemi Badenoch took aim at Penny Mordaunt during the debate (Image: CHANNEL 4)
Penny Mordaunt denied being involved (Image: CHANNEL 4)
Her response caused a furious response from fellow contender Kemi Badenoch who said that wasn’t how she remembered it, adding “it’s on record”.
When asked whether she accepted Penny Mordaunt’s account of her position on gender self-ID, Kemi Badenoch said: “I find it difficult to, because when I took over as equalities minister in 2020, the policy that was being pushed was self-ID.
“So, I don’t understand how that would have changed unless someone else did it in between.
“I didn’t work with Penny, but my understanding was that the previous minister who had done the role had wanted self-ID, and that was something that I reversed with Liz.”
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Ms Mordaunt retaliated, saying: “That is not correct and this will all be on record in Government.”
Ms Badenoch replied: “It is on record.”
When asked which account was true and as Ms Mordaunt urged her to “tell the truth, Liz”, Ms Truss said: “I’m not going to go around criticising other candidates in this race.
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Tory leadership explained (Image: EXPRESS)
“What I will be clear about is I started in the women and equalities job.
“There was a plan to move forward on self-ID.
“I believe in women’s rights, I also believe that transgender should be treated with respect.
“So, what I did is I changed the outcome of that work so that we were able to make the process simpler and kinder, but not move ahead with self-ID, which I think is the right position.”