Labour’s transgender civil war has hit a new low

August is the traditional silly season, but the Labour party risks descending into a farce from which it might struggle to recover when real politics resumes in September. In the absence of any direction from the party leadership, the transgender thought police have led the party down a rabbit hole. Last week, Spectator readers may recall the appalling attack on Rosie Duffield MP for claiming – quite rightly – that ‘only women have a cervix’. Now, the madness has continued.

This week’s episode involves LGBT+ Labour. Not to be confused with the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights (LCTR) that appeared in February, LGBT+ Labour has a long history of campaigning inside the Labour party and alongside the Labour party for gay rights. 

Do bear with me: the distinction between the groups is important. When the LCTR published its list of pledges that called for expulsions from the party, Keir Starmer was careful not to add his signature to those of Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Angela Rayner.