Why I’m glad Boris and Starmer are sitting out the trans rights war

I’m starting to think that Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer have quite similar views about the politics of trans rights, sex and gender. I’m also inclined to think this could be a good thing.

In the last couple of weeks, both the PM and the Labour leader have been invited to wade into the lake of bile that is the trans debate. And both have declined, opting instead to say nothing.  

In Johnson’s case, this was the decision to delay, again, a government response to a consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act. All the signs were that Liz Truss, the minister in charge, was set to use an announcement in July to make a statement about protecting women’s legal rights to same-sex spaces. That would spark a big, noisy fight with those trans-rights advocates who seem to enjoy big noisy fights, especially fights that involve saying horrible things about women who say things they don’t like.