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Spectator
a day ago
- Politics
- Spectator
They will say this was ‘parliament at its best'. And they will be lying
The portents this morning were grim. The Grim Leadreaper was doing her HR manager of Hades act, buzzing around with faux sincerity like a wasp that had discovered LGBT History Month. Jess Philips took a great huff on her vape in the lobby before walking into the chamber. Perhaps it was sulphur flavour. Inside the House of Commons the obviously sham last-minute 'switcher' Jack Abbott from the bill committee, as spineless a backbench toady as you ever did see, was there being all chummy with the unparalleled toad Jake Richards. Were they bonding perhaps over their new-found enthusiasm for death? It was Brokeback Mountain meets The Zone of Interest. Voting began on amendments. A glut of ambitious backbench MPs rejected a safeguard brought forward by a coalition of MPs as diverse as Dame Karen Bradley for the Tories, Jim Allister for the TUV and brave and doughty Labour MPs Rachel Maskell and Jonathan Davies. It was designed to stop people from killing themselves because they felt like a burden. Then Leadbeater herself spoke. 'It's not often that we get to debate morality issues in parliament', she said; just three days after parliament voted to decriminalise abortion up to birth via a sneakily tacked-on amendment and a few minutes of debate. The Leisure Centre operative turned supreme arbiter of life and death likes to talk about how she and her bill represent 'parliament at its best'. The irony being that anyone who truly believes this would fail any reasonable capacity test. The concerns of the key royal colleges of experts, who'd made repeated interventions in opposition to the bill, were shrugged off as 'different views'. Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem MP for Bath complained that some members of the public had suggested that the current crop of MPs were too stupid to discuss an issue of this magnitude. For all their faults sometimes the General Public really do hit the nail on the head. Not only were many demonstrably too stupid to engage properly, some of them couldn't even be bothered to stay awake. Wearing a pair of dark glasses, Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt openly dozed through several speeches. Certain moments added to the general atmosphere of despair. Jake Richards rolled his eyes and performatively scoffed as Naz Shah explained the bill's failure to close the anorexia loophole. Labour MP Lewis Atkinson commended the work of the hospice movement in alleviating suffering at the end of life. His praise was treacly, sweet and insincere. Almost diabetes-inducing in its efforts – another disease which will no doubt qualify for state sanctioned death in due time. While scrutinising the bill on the committee, the same Lewis Atkinson also rejected conscience amendments that would have prevented hospices and care homes from being forced to provide assisted dying The walking embodiment of the banality of evil, Lib Dem MP Luke Taylor said that voting in favour was a good way to 'bookend the week'. That's the level of import MPs gave to this issue of life and death: bump off the weak to bookend your week. Many impassioned MPs never got to speak at all; Rosie Duffield left the chamber in disgust after trying to catch the Deputy Speaker's eye for several hours, with no success. There was some debate about whether the Prime Minister – a long term death enthusiast – would turn up to vote. In the end, he did. It was nice of Esther Rantzen to send her own personal proxy. Bump off the weak to bookend your week It's worth naming those Labour MPs who have gone above and beyond in their attempts to make their colleagues see sense. Those, like Rachael Maskell, who worked behind the scenes to try and put down amendments that would safeguard the vulnerable. Jess Asato, who made probably the best and most forensic speech of the debate. Diane Abbott who, despite obvious illness, rose to speak movingly about the risks of compulsion. And Adam Jogee, who left a dying relative's bedside to come and vote because the bill's 'compassionate' proposer refused to find him a supporter to pair with and so spend the last moments he had with a loved one. Do remember them: they have been principled exceptions to the otherwise disgraceful rule. Given we are now a culture which embraces and promotes death, perhaps a post-script on political deaths. When the inevitable national inquiry delves into the abuse and shortcomings of this law – which it will – the Labour backbenchers and Tory grandees who made this possible, these back-slapping middle-management Molochs will have their names etched in history as the people who brought this about. They will achieve a sort of immortality; just not as the progressive liberators they vainly imagine themselves to be. Secondly, while much has been written about the impending death of the Tory party, what seems to have gone unnoticed is the death of Labour as well. What once made claims to be the party of working people, a force in politics on the side of the needy and the vulnerable, has in just under a year become a death cult for comfortable progressives. The tragedy is that they will drag down the very people they purport to protect with them.
The Independent
13-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
‘I will not stop shouting' about LGBT rights, says MP in ‘gayest Parliament'
An MP has warned that politicians in the UK, Europe and the US are trying to 'tear down' protections for LGBT+ people, as she spoke to celebrate 'the gayest Parliament in the world'. Kate Osborne described receiving 'horrific' abuse when she tried to arrange a pride event in her Jarrow and Gateshead East constituency near Newcastle, but promised the LGBT+ community 'will not be pushed back in the closet'. The MP, who said she came out as a lesbian 40 years ago, told the Commons on Thursday: 'It's an honour to be speaking in the main chamber in this Parliament, as Mr Speaker (Sir Lindsay Hoyle) told us the other night at his reception, the gayest Parliament in the world. ' LGBT History Month has never been more needed than it is right now, with politicians of all political stripes here in the UK, in Europe and of course, in America, trying to tear down the few protections LGBTQ+ have, attack our rights, and rewrite history. 'Our history and our activism needs to be shouted about. We will not be silenced. 'We will not be erased. We will not be pushed back in the closet and our history will be celebrated and remembered. 'We need people to continue to be brave enough to shout 'I am here'. 'I'm a lesbian, and I'm saying that in the 'mother of all Parliaments', and I will not stop shouting about it. 'Diversity is what makes us wonderful, it gives us strength. ''Dyke' is no longer an insult but a badge that I wear with pride, just like my 'she/her' pronoun badge.' According to an independent website set up to record the number of LGBT+ MPs, at least 75 MPs identify as LGBT+. The website listed 66 MPs in the last parliament, before last year's general election. We must celebrate our history and remind people that we have always been here, that trans people have always existed, Kate Osborne 'We must celebrate our history and remind people that we have always been here, that trans people have always existed,' Ms Osborne said, speaking to mark LGBT+ History Month. 'But we also have to remember the lessons of our activism – remember and listen to those who lived those fights and learn from them in order to defend our community from this latest wave of attacks.' She said she faced a 'barrage of abuse' while helping to set up a pride event in Hebburn led by local campaigners. Ms Osborne warned flags were 'ripped down' and a newspaper removed an article about the event as a result of abusive comments. She also said she and campaigners 'received some horrific homophobic and lesbophobic abuse online and in real life'. The MP added 'note of caution around our Government's own policy and rhetoric on puberty blockers', saying: 'I believe this decision is putting people's health at risk.' The Government introduced an indefinite ban on puberty blockers last year for children experiencing gender dysphoria after a review led by Baroness Cass found the quality of studies around their use was 'poor', with plans underway to set up a clinical trial. Equalities minister Dame Nia Griffith had earlier said: 'For most people under the age of 40, it's almost inconceivable to imagine a society in which LGBT+ were not visible and integrated. 'Most, if not all of us, have LGBT+ family, friends and colleagues. In this very chamber, one in 10 members identify as LGBT+, a world record for any Parliament as far as we know.' She later added: 'As history shows us, progress is not static. 'New challenges will always emerge, and hard-won rights must not only be cherished but guarded. 'That's why the Government is committed to upholding Britain's long-standing record of protecting the rights of individuals, and ensuring the Equality Act protects everyone. 'But there are others who would gladly reverse this, returning to a time where discrimination was permissible, even empowered under the law. 'We must be ever mindful of such intentions and remember from our history why we do not wish to revisit such times. Lawful discrimination, Section 28, vilification and rejection by wider society are history, and they must remain such.'
