Former Scottish Secretary Alister Jack demands apology from Nicola Sturgeon on gender debate
Former Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has called on Nicola Sturgeon and her 'partner in crime' John Swinney to apologise for pushing now-abandoned gender reforms.
In his first interview since quitting as an MP at least year's general election, Mr Jack also suggested that he thought Boris Johnson was capable of escaping the partygate scandals and winning a fifth term in government for the Conservatives.
One of the most significant acts of Mr Jack's five years in the cabinet, where he was the only senior minister to survive every reshuffle during an often tumultuous period in power for the Tories, was to block Scottish government plans to make it easier for people to change their gender.
He told ITV Border that last month's ruling by the Supreme Court that the terms woman and sex in the 2010 Equality Act 'refer to a biological woman and biological sex' was a 'vindication' for his decision.
'I feel very strongly that Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney, who was definitely her partner in crime on this, should apologise to those women who were fighting that case,' he said.
'They were vilified and they were demonised by Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney and others in the SNP and that was completely wrong and they should get a proper public apology.'
Mr Jack said the treatment of people who opposed the bill was 'disgraceful' and highlighted comments by former First Minister Ms Sturgeon in 2023 where she said that some critics of the reforms were 'deeply misogynist, often homophobic, possibly some of them racist as well'.
He also revealed that he secured the backing of then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to wield the veto just seven days after the legislation had been passed at Holyrood.
On Tuesday, Ms Sturgeon told reporters at Holyrood that trans lives could become 'unliveable' following the Supreme Court's judgment.
She said she 'fundamentally and respectfully disagreed' with calls for her to apologise to her critics on gender.
She said that how the court's ruling is implemented would be key to its impact on trans people's lives.
She said she would be 'very concerned' if interim guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission that says trans women should not be allowed to use women's facilities in public places became law, adding: 'I think that potentially makes the lives of trans people almost unlivable.'
Mr Swinney has said that he accepts the court's judgment but has no regrets about supporting the legislation, which would have allowed people to self-identify in their chosen gender.
Mr Jack, who was a loyal supporter of Mr Johnson, said it was wrong of his party to force him from office.
It followed a mass revolt from his cabinet, including his future successor Mr Sunak, over a series of scandals including lockdown parties in Downing Street and allegations of inappropriate behaviour by MPs. But Mr Jack remained in post.
A cross-party investigation into 'partygate' concluded Mr Johnson had deliberately misled the House and would have been suspended from parliament for 90 days had he remained an MP.
Mr Jack said he was 'loyal' to Mr Johnson and believed he should not have quit.
'He was only five points behind in the opinion polls and it was mid-term,' he said. 'We then dropped very quickly and lost our reputation for economic competence over the next seven weeks and we dropped 20 points, which we never recovered from. And I felt that Boris could pull things round again.'
He blamed Liz Truss's fiscal statement, which caused turmoil in the financial markets and led to an increase in interest rates and, as a result, people's mortgages, as the key factor for the Tories' devastating defeat last summer.
He also warned MPs against ousting Kemi Badenoch as the UK party leader in the wake of more poor results in the English local elections.
'I think we've tried replacing leaders and it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference,' he said.
'I think what we've got to do is rebuild trust with the public and actually the public has to forgive us for the things that we've talked about. It just takes time for that to happen.'
Mr Jack said the Conservatives should not consider any deal with Reform UK and accused First Minister Mr Swinney of 'trying to give them as much profile as possible' to split the vote amongst unionist parties ahead of next year's Holyrood election.
He also said that politicians should be allowed to place bets as long as there is no insider trading or conflict of interest.
Mr Jack admitted placing bets on the date of the general election before it was called but the Gambling Commission found he had not done anything wrong with his actions.
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