- Doctor Who actor David Tennant said he wished Kemi Badenoch would ‘shut up’
- Labour candidate Dawn Butler said she agreed with what Tennant had said
- Badenoch accused Keir Starmer of having Labour MPs ‘do his dirty work for him’
Kemi Badenoch accused a former Labour minister yesterday of showing the ‘true face’ of the party in the ongoing row over women’s rights.
Dawn Butler said she agreed with Doctor Who actor David Tennant, who had said he wished Equalities Minister Mrs Badenoch would ‘shut up’ and spoke of a world where she ‘doesn’t exist any more’.
Ms Butler, the candidate for Brent Central and a junior minister under Gordon Brown, wrote on social media: ‘Not all Black women think the same. I agree with David Tennant.’
She also shared a post on Twitter that stated: ‘The only way Kemi Badenoch will shut up is if she is voted out.’
And Ms Butler claimed it was ‘misleading’ to liken what Tennant said – as he was given an award for being a ‘celebrity ally’ to transgender people – to racist comments made by a Tory donor on Diane Abbott.
Kemi Badenoch accused former Labour minister Dawn Butler (pictured) of showing the ‘true face’ of the party in the ongoing row over women’s rights
Doctor Who actor David Tennant, who had said he wished Equalities Minister Mrs Badenoch would ‘shut up’ and spoke of a world where she ‘doesn’t exist any more’
Mrs Badenoch – who on Tuesday branded Tennant a ‘rich, lefty, white male celebrity’ who was ‘blinded by ideology’ – yesterday condemned Ms Butler’s comments.
The leading Tory said: ‘This is the true face of the Labour Party. Keir Starmer says he doesn’t want a ‘toxic debate’ but he is very happy to have Labour MPs do his dirty work for him and let people know they wish I didn’t exist.
‘These are the types of people who will form a government if Labour wins.
‘The toxicity of the debate comes from the left.
‘Labour and their celebrity allies have no interest in stopping the conversion therapy of gay children who are told ‘you’re not really gay, you’re just a different sex’.
‘Kids are medicalised and sterilised as foolish celebrities and stupid Labour MPs cheer this on in their desperation to look cool.’
Asked about the row, Sir Keir Starmer criticised both Tennant – a Labour supporter who has previously described the party leader as a ‘clever grown-up’ – and Ms Butler.
On a visit to a medical centre outside Leicester to meet NHS staff, he told reporters: ‘I think in politics, as in life, it’s really important that we are able to robustly disagree with others.
‘Obviously, that happens a lot in a general election campaign but we should do it with respect for everybody involved in that robust discussion.
Kemi Badenoch accused Keir Starmer of allowing ‘Labour MPs do his dirty work for him and let people know they wish I didn’t exist’
‘I wouldn’t have engaged in the way that he [Tennant] did. It’s right we have these robust discussions but we must do it respectfully. It’s very important in our politics.’
Sir Keir said he had not spoken with Ms Butler. Pressed on whether he thought people needed to ‘turn the heat down’, he replied: ‘I do. I think it’s right that we should conduct all debate respectfully.’
Another senior Labour figure also spoke out against Tennant’s remarks made at the British LGBT Awards ceremony on Monday.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said: ‘I don’t ever tell anybody to shut up. Our politics has got to a really awful situation with people shouting at each other.’
Rishi Sunak said: ‘Freedom of speech is the most powerful feature of our democracy. If you’re calling for women to shut up and wishing they didn’t exist, you are the problem.’
The row came as a women’s rights campaigner said she will vote Labour despite distrusting Sir Keir on this issue.
The Labour leader previously claimed it was ‘not right’ to say only women have a cervix and only ‘99.9 per cent of women’ do not have a penis.
But recently he said he agreed with Tony Blair that ‘biologically, a woman is with a vagina and a man is with a penis’.
Kathleen Stock said: ‘I am going to vote Labour because I can see that there’s bigger issues than this one. Can I trust Keir Starmer? Absolutely not. He’s flip-flopped around like a fish on this.’
