Brianna Ghey’s family invited to Downing Street as Sunak ministers double down on trans jibe

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Rishi Sunak has invited the mom of murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey to Downing Street a day after making a joke about transgender individuals whereas she was visiting parliament.

It comes after Kemi Badenoch doubled down on the prime minister’s trans jibe at PMQs, accusing Sir Keir Starmer of “weaponising” the homicide of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey.

The enterprise secretary stated it was “shameful” for the Labour chief to criticise Mr Sunak over the joke, made whereas Brianna’s mom Esther Ghey was anticipated to be within the Commons viewing gallery.

She grew to become the most recent minister to defend the PM, who mocked Sir Keir over the “definition of a woman” whereas Ms Ghey visited parliament.

Mr Sunak accused Sir Keir of being incapable of “defining a woman” and that it was one among quite a lot of points on which he had carried out a U-turn.

But an offended Sir Keir instantly admonished the Tory chief. He stated: “Of all the weeks to say that, when Brianna’s mother is in this chamber. Shame.”

And on Wednesday evening Ms Badenoch, who additionally oversees the federal government’s equality coverage, stated: “Every murder is a tragedy.  None should be trivialised by political point-scoring.”

In tweets signed off by No10, the enterprise secretary terribly claimed that “as a mother, I can imagine the trauma that Esther Ghey has endured”.

And she doubled down on the PM’s feedback, saying: “It was shameful of Starmer to link his own inability to be clear on the matter of sex and gender directly to her grief.”

Her tweets got here as it emerged Mr Sunak, who has repeatedly refused to apologise over the joke, invited the Ghey family to Downing Street.

Mr Sunak has now invited Ms Ghey to a gathering about on-line security, which she is campaigning to enhance.

Policing minister Chris Philp instructed BBC Breakfast: “The Prime Minister made no reference at all to any individual trans people.

“It was Keir Starmer who introduced that. The Prime Minister was making a point about Labour’s very numerous flip-flops.”

Asked about Brianna Ghey’s father’s name for an apology, Mr Philp stated: “I think anyone who is interested in this issue should actually listen to the clip, listen to the initial exchange.”

Asked if he was suggesting Brianna’s father Peter Spooner had misunderstood the Prime Minister’s feedback, Mr Philp stated: “I have got every respect for, obviously, the views and feelings of a bereaved father.”

On Wednesday Treasury chief secretary Laura Trott denied Mr Sunak’s remarks had been a “joke” and insisted they’d “absolutely nothing to do with this appalling tragedy”.

The chief secretary to the Treasury instructed LBC: “I want to be really, really clear that this wasn’t a joke…it has absolutely nothing to do with this appalling tragedy.”

Meanwhile chancellor Jeremy Hunt insisted that the PM “could not have been clearer about the enormous respect he has for Brianna Ghey’s mother” and that his level had been about Labour “flip-flopping on important issues”.

Brianna’s father, Peter Spooner, demanded an apology, saying he was “disgusted” with Mr But Sunak, earlier than branding the feedback “degrading” and “absolutely dehumanising”.

The blunder was the most recent in a collection of political missteps from the PM. He was criticised for betting Piers Morgan £1,000 that deportation flights to Rwanda would take off earlier than the final election, and for an embarrassing second when he laughed as a mom pleaded with him to reduce NHS ready lists for her daughter.

Brianna was stabbed to loss of life by youngsters Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe in a Cheshire park final February.

During their sentencing earlier this month, the decide stated the “exceptionally brutal” homicide had components of each sadism on the a part of Jenkinson and transphobic hate on the a part of Ratcliffe.