What question do Labour politicians dread the most? Anything on ruling out tax rises isn’t great – the party is trying to give itself as much wriggle room as possible should difficult decisions greet them if in government. Questions on Keir Starmer’s former support for Jeremy Corbyn can make for rather awkward viewing too, as evidenced by last week’s Sky debate.
But since Starmer took over the party there is one question that tends to send the leader and members of his front bench into a spin like no other: what is a woman?
Over the years, both Starmer and his frontbenchers have found themselves tongue-tied on the issue. Initially, Starmer struggled to answer it, having backed a self ID policy inherited from Corbyn.
However, last year he moved his position after much internal wrangling. When pressed on what makes a woman, he then managed, “99.9 per cent of women haven’t got a penis”, last year. This wasn’t enough for some women’s rights campaigners who said the correct figure was 100 per cent, with one commentator suggesting Starmer was taking 99.9 per cent of women for fools.
So, it has not gone unnoticed in Labour circles this week that Starmer has been........