It’s been three short days since UK prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the country would be going to the polls on July 4th for a general election, and J.K. Rowling has made her presence felt on social media, slamming the opposition leader for his treatment of a gender-critical politician in his own party.
Rosie Duffield, the Labour politician for Kent in south-eastern England, was reportedly not invited to the election campaign launch event, although it took place in that region. Duffield took to X (formerly Twitter) to say:
“Well, day one has gone well then..! Strong women can’t be broken that easily, lads. And I have an army of them behind me, in front of me, beside me and holding me up.”
And Duffield found an ally in Rowling, who shares Duffield’s belief that women’s rights are being compromised by trans-supporting language, with the Harry Potter author taking to the platform herself.
She wrote:
“It’s hard not to conclude that in spite of recent attempts at back-pedalling, 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.”
With her post, Rowling shared a picture of the Labour leader, including his 2021 answer to a question about the trans issue: “[The phrase “only women have a cervix”] is something that shouldn’t be said. It is not right.”
The Spectator magazine reports that Rowling was previously a generous donor to the Labour Party, giving them £1million ($1.27m) during the tenure of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. However, with six weeks to go until the election and Labour a strong leader in pre-election polls, such messages are evidence of ongoing conflict within the party on the trans issue, which has caused an internal division for several years. Recently, Starmer said he supported Duffield’s stance on women’s rights.
