Women Politicians In The United Kingdom

"[[w:Flag of Ireland|[T]he tricolour]] is not my flag ... I genuinely don't feel Irish. Is there something wrong with that?"

"There are people in Northern Ireland, leading politicians, who say, and it's true, that Northern Ireland has now become a form of colony. The EU’s first kind of colony."

"As a woman, I fully understand the threats to dignity and safety that the Bill poses, because it will change the social contract. In this country, we recognise that in toilets, changing rooms and public spaces, there are areas where only women are allowed. In a restaurant recently, I had an experience where a man dressed as a woman walked into the toilets where I was on my own. He stood behind me and stared at me in the mirror, looking me in the eye. I have no idea whether he intended me any harm, but my evolved instinct as a woman was to be frightened, because unlike in almost any other species, women are far less powerful than men and we cannot defend ourselves. [Interruption.] No, it is a fact. The difference in strength between men and women is phenomenal, which is why we have separate sex categories for sport. Women are evolved to be wary of men in intimate spaces, which is why we have single-sex spaces and why they must continue to exist for the safety and privacy of women. The Bill threatens that social contract."

"Yet trans activists have succeeded in campaigning for biological males who identify as female to be allowed into women’s sports, women’s hospital wards and women’s prisons, even when these trans women still have intact male genitalia. This is not acceptable, and presents a serious threat to women’s safety, as well as our sex-based rights."

"[On gender ideology] If there's one place where a woman should be able to speak up about these issues, that should be parliament."

"The problem with this point of view represented by those who subscribe to gender ideology is that they don't respond to rational debate with counterarguments. They respond to it with cries of 'bigots', or cries of trying to silence people who express an opposite point of view. That's what is so frustrating."

"If 'extremist' views are illegal, then the person who defines 'extremism' has the power to curtail free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom of association. This is the path to authoritarianism."

"If Britain is to reverse its decline, we would do well to follow the example of countries like Hungary. Of course, high profile policies like building giant border fences would not translate directly into the British context, but we can learn from the principles behind them."

"[On a lack of "hope for the future" discouraging the young from becoming parents] That hope is sadly diminishing in so many of our young people today, because liberal individualism has proven to be completely powerless to resist the cultural Marxism that is systematically destroying our children’s souls. When culture, schools and universities openly teach that our country is racist, our heroes are villains, humanity is killing the Earth, you are what you desire, diversity is theology, boundaries are tyranny and self-restraint is oppression, is it any wonder that mental health conditions, self-harm and suicide, and epidemic levels of anxiety and confusion characterise the emerging generation? We must end the indoctrination of our children with destructive and narcissistic ideologies, instead protecting childhood, training children in the timeless virtues and teaching them how to love our country."

"[On motherhood] Some young people are led to believe it's all drudgery [...] 'It’s a noose around your neck.' But most people don't regret having children. We don't talk openly enough as a society about what's great about being a mum or a dad. We talk about what's great about a career, and that's fine. But we should talk about other fulfilling things in life."

"I think ... I'm uncomfortable ... I believe every human being is equal before God. That's my faith position. I don't think we can get away from the fact that abortion is taking human life. There are obviously balances of rights, and I'm not an absolutist at all."

"Perhaps we could ask the Church of England to return to their day job and marry people for free."

"For children are not an economic burden. They are not a threat to personal autonomy or a lifestyle choice. Children are a joy and a blessing, they are the symptom and the cause of a society that has hope. Our children are the reason that we seek to rebuild a nation whose future is prosperous, safe and free."

"We have got a problem in this country with knowing what the problem is but not being able to do anything about it."

"What does it even mean to "undermine British values" when there is no consensus — and certainly no legal definition — of what those values are?"

"Some people think that gender critical views are 'extreme'. I think decriminalising abortion to birth is 'extreme'. Opposition politicians think the current government is 'extreme'."

"What did I dream about at Boots? Well, the big ambition was to get onto the cosmetics, but I never made it...""

"It is obvious that the Unionist Party is quite prepared to set Catholic against Protestant in this country rather than give the reforms which would in fact mean there would be an end to sectarianism."

"It's not that women get written out of history - they never get written in"

"[On her home life, she married her female partner in 2022] the rampant feminist that she is, cannot wait to have a housewife."

"Once upon a time intellectuals made great prolific statements about race, saying "I think you'll find the statistics show more BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) people, crime goes up". They might have been an intellectual, but they were also a racist. The vast majority of people don’t know a lot about the trans community, and why should they? They are less than one per cent of the population."

"Folk don't recognise the difference between being unfairly cancelled and being held accountable, those are two very different things. Criticising someone for what they said in public, in front of an audience, that's criticism - that's not anyone attacking you or denying you because you're a lesbian or whatever. It's nonsense. There are definite bad actors at play, radicalising people who are vulnerable, radicalising people who are too online, and using this small community as a wedge issue to create chaos."

"Being trans is not something to be feared. It’s just an aspect of a human being, the same way being gay is just an aspect of who I am. [...] The only place as far as I’m concerned that my sex matters, as opposed to my gender, is in a medical setting. That's between me and a doctor."

"I'm a woman, I'm a lesbian, nobody's cancelling me and I want trans people to be able to live with dignity and happiness and for newspapers and politicians to leave them the hell alone."

"The Deputy Prime Minister, I thank him for his kind words and we did join this place at the same time and I'm pretty sure we'll be leaving at the same time."

"I've been challenged going into female toilets before, course I have. Are you kidding? I'm the sort of person who can deal with it, but there was one time I didn't even have to and it was one of the most powerful things I've experienced. There was a woman beside me who said [to the person questioning me] "Who the hell do you think you are, who are you to police this?" That is exactly what I needed in that situation, I didn’t have power, but the woman beside me did. In this debate, I'm the person with the power and I'm not leaving trans people behind."

"If you are a human being, you are not an intellectual debate and nor should you be made to be one."

"In recent days, footage has emerged of the former chancellor and the former chair of the 1922 committee offering their services for £60,000. On top of that, the former health secretary offered his wisdom for £10,000 a day. Can I ask the Deputy Prime Minister, when he is inevitably booted out of office, what will his going rate be?"

"Some of the arguments I’ve seen by people who are gender critical, if you start picking away at it, are some of the most misogynistic arguments. Some of the worst abuse I've experienced is from women because they don't see me as feminine enough and doing things a woman should do. People bang on about single sex spaces, but I've had more grief in women's toilets in the past five years than I have had in my life, and it's because I'm not as feminine as 50-year-old Karen expects me to be. That is not a good basis for progress."

"Anybody ever watch Gilmore Girls? Mind when Paris built herself a fort in the newsroom of the paper so nobody could talk to her? That's the Prime Minister."

"Just seen a stag do floating down the Thames. As their boat went past, they began pointing at Parliament chanting, 'you don't know what you're doing, you don't know what you're doing...' Probably the most accurate commentary yet."

"You sound if I head to bed, Sajid Javid? Absolutely shattered."

"Ooo I'm back to being a ned this week, what a buzz. I'm sure it'll be back to a middle class liar with a fake accent next week though."

"You talk shite, hen."

"So after spending weeks running down the clock telling us the EU will never reconsider the backstop, the Prime Minister is now going to head back to Brussels to ask them to reconsider the backstop."

"I know I'm not going to become comfortable in Westminster because I'm fundamentally uncomfortable there. I don't want to be there. I don't want to make decisions there."

"Now the government, quite rightly, pays for me – through taxpayer's money – to be able live in London whilst I serve my constituents. My housing is subsidised by the taxpayer. Now the Chancellor [then George Osborne] in his budget said, "It is not fair that families earning over £40,000 in London should have their rents paid for by other working people." But it is ok so long as you're an MP? In this budget the Chancellor also abolished any housing benefit for anyone below the age of 21. So we are now in the ridiculous situation whereby, because I am an MP, not only am I the youngest, but I am also the only 2o-year-old in the whole of the UK that the Chancellor is prepared to help with housing."

"We have the lowest pensions in Europe, the lowest sick pay, we pretend the minimum wage is a living wage when it’s not. We miss our own economic targets time and time again. We’re happy to break international law. We are turning into a country where words hold no value and over the last 12 years I fear we are sleepwalking closer and closer to the f-word and I know everyone is scared to say it for fear of sounding over the top or being accused of going too far. But I say this with all sincerity, when I say the f-word, I’m talking about facism. Fascism wrapped in red, white and blue."

"I had people wanting me to write an autobiography: I was born. I went to school. I left. I fried a fish. And now I’m an MP. They were offering me a four-book deal!"

"I've genuinely never worried about a career. [...] I can see how politicians game play – it's a long game of chess for many of them. For me, it's either right or wrong, sensible or stupid."

"The volume and toxicity of stuff thats come from the left for daring to speak out, for daring to address this, because it's so incongruous with the values that I'm supposed to share with people on the left around anti-Semitism. People believe that there is a place for anti-Semitism on the left, that's what I found particularly challenging and difficult over in particular this past year. Not that it hasn't occurred at all before but it's certainly been given oxygen and I only have to reflect on what I've seen and the volume of it and from those accounts that use the hashtag #JC4PM in their biography."

"I'm glad that I left the Labour party [...] Everything that has happened since then proves that I was right to leave. The great party that I joined is a shell of its former self."

"[On deciding to openly challenge Jeremy Corbyn] It was the Friday before the Monday of the Enough Is Enough demonstration outside Parliament. I hadn't actually seen it [the mural] before then, despite it being discussed on blogs and written about in the JC before. But I didn't get a proper response [from Mr Corbyn], then there was the fight to get the party to adopt the IHRA definition in full, which even at the last moment there was an attempt to undermine. Then there was what became known as the 'summer of antisemitism' - all the connections Jeremy had made, his statements of July, August and September - it really has got worse. More recently, two weeks in a row at the meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, we had a motion that was unanimously supported by party colleagues calling on the leadership to release the information about antisemitism cases - and we were held with utter contempt. This has been something the leadership has sought to dismiss and turn a blind eye to every step of the way. That is why I have come to the conclusion the party is institutionally antisemitic. I said 'Enough is Enough' and I challenged it from within. Now I mean Enough IS Enough."

"[On the categories of antisemitic abuse she was receiving] First, there are people who say it’s all a smear and accuse me of "faux anti-semite outrage" and "bullshit of the highest order". This attack has come even after Jeremy has acknowledged in the strongest terms that the mural was anti-semitic. Second, there are those who say the mural is "absolutely true" and that they support it, that "global banks are ripping everyone off because they are run by Jews". The third strand is to accuse me of having "two masters", that I'm "Tel Aviv’s servant" and a "paid-up Israeli lobby operative" as well as being an MP. It’s anti-semitism of the worst kind, suggesting I'm a traitor to my country. They call me "Judas", "a venal piece of detritus", a "Zionazi" and an "absolute parasite", telling me to get out of the country or go back to Israel. The last strand are the messages from people who tell me to "f*** off", resign, call me "another red Tory that needs deselecting" and make physical threats."

"Over 40 Labour MPs and peers joined the demo against antisemitism. Every one of us did so because we are anti-racist and anti-fascist campaigners, and will always challenge all forms of racism, no matter where they appear. We protested, and will do again if we must. Protest forms an important part of our Labour tradition. So does dissent and disagreement. We should always "dare to be a Daniel" and speak out against the prevailing winds. No Labour MP should ever be cowed by the Labour machine into silence, against the voice of our own conscience. As a Jew, I defend my right to speak at rallies against antisemitism. Mr Loach, in calling for Labour MPs to be expunged from the party, undermines Labour’s local election campaigns across the country."

"While I accuse no one of anti-Semitism, this year NUS has been a bystander to Jew-hatred [...] In the past three days, at the heart of our democratic union, to my horror, I have seen the events of the year replayed."

"Only active government can shape markets, create new ones, and create green growth. Individuals and businesses cannot do it alone: they need a government by their side. That's why the Labour government introduced the Climate Change Act in 2008 to enshrine carbon targets in law, and to move Britain from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy. We planned to achieve 40% low-carbon electricity by 2020, and to create 400,000 new jobs in green businesses. This government inherited a range of green initiatives, such as the green investment bank, which they've watered-down, or punted into the long grass. The Tory-led government's blinkered focus on the deficit means they are not making the right strategic decisions for now or for the next generation. Their promised green economy road map will appear many months after the publication of their energy bill."

"[Being asked if she was someone's aide at a climate change conference] I'm nobody’s aide! I find a lot of people say, you know, "When do we get to meet the MP?" And, er, no, I am the MP."

"I have to be very careful what I say here. I'm disappointed by the fact that they are playing to other parties' policies in order to discuss it all. Whereas the Labour Party in the past have been so strong and so active in combating and standing up for themselves, I'm surprised that on this particular issue, it's unfortunate that it's been played into."

"I'm frankly fed up with the right to roam campaign. The only things that have rights to roam are farmers, their pigs and cattle."