Why won't Anas Sarwar champion Sandie Peggie?
An industrial tribunal called by the nurse – started in February, paused, then resumed last week – has heard how doctors and management turned on her while rallying round Dr Beth Upton, a man who claims to be a biological woman. Whether Peggie wins her claims of sexual discrimination against her employers, NHS Fife, and Upton remains to be seen, but it is already clear that public sympathy lies firmly with the working-class nurse rather than the middle-class doctor.
This is a truth not only revealed in polling – a recent YouGov survey found more than 60 per cent of people backed the Supreme Court ruling that womanhood is a matter of biology – but also in focus groups commissioned by political parties. Gender ideology may remain popular among self-identifying 'progressive' politicians but voters from across the political spectrum have had more than enough of the 'trans women are women' hooey so enthusiastically pushed by the SNP and others at Holyrood over recent years.
When the Scottish parliament voted in 2022 in favour of reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), allowing anyone to self-identify into the sex of their choosing, Scottish Labour's Anas Sarwar whipped his MSPs into supporting the proposal. Back then, having swallowed the be-kind Kool-Aid, he showed no sign of recognising the irreconcilable conflict between the rights of women and the demands of militant trans activists.
But, in February, as Peggie's case began making headlines, Sarwar saw (or chose to see) sense. Not only did he support the nurse's case, but he also expressed his regret over backing former first minister Nicola Sturgeon's plan to reform the GRA. If, said the Scottish Labour leader, he had known in December 2022 what he now knew, he'd never have voted in favour of changing the law.
Fortunately for the women and girls of Scotland, then Conservative Scottish secretary Alister Jack blocked the new legislation in January 2023 on the grounds that it would conflict with the UK-wide Equality Act, which protects the sex-based rights of women.
The backlash against reform of the GRA contributed to Nicola Sturgeon's decision to step down as First Minister. Her successors – both the hapless Humza Yousaf and the bland John Swinney – remain committed to the proposal (in theory, anyway,) even as public opposition to gender reform mounts.
This baffling support for a discredited ideology left Swinney looking especially foolish as Peggie's tribunal resumed. The First Minister declared his complete confidence in NHS Fife, placing him on the opposite side of this high-profile battle to the majority of voters. Swinney missed his opportunity to free himself from the gender politics swamp.
Anas Sarwar has been every bit as politically inept. When Scottish Labour's leader U-turned on gender reform, he managed to upset both those in favour of self-ID and those opposed. To the former – forever now lost to him – he was a traitor; to the latter, he was a cowardly opportunist.
Every working day until next Wednesday, crowds of supporters will gather outside the tribunal hearing in Dundee to cheer Sandie Peggie as she arrives. Recording these moments will be camera crews from all major broadcasters. Why, then, isn't Anas Sarwar there, each morning?
In common with other party leaders, Sarwar has seen the focus group results and private polling which show the majority of voters believe a woman is an adult human female, not a magical kind of man. The Scottish Labour leader – having made a fool of himself in February – should turn up in Dundee, brace himself for a spot of heckling, and brave it out. 'I know I'm late,' he should tell Peggie's supporters, 'But I'm here, now.'
We're bang in the middle of 'silly season', when summer holidays and parliamentary recesses leave the news agenda rather bare. This being so, the already gripping case of Sandie Peggie is receiving blanket coverage across Scottish media (with the exception, of course, of the SNP's court comic, The National, which – as is always the case when things look embarrassing for the separatists – maintains a 'nothing to see here' position). There is a space, right now, for Sarwar to position his party as champions of women's rights.
While Labour and the SNP (and, of course, the cranks of the Scottish Greens and Liberal Democrats) continue to fail women, this issue represents a free kick for the insurgent Reform UK, which will stand candidates in next May's Holyrood election. Nigel Farage's party is on course to devour much of the Scottish Tory vote but parties of the centre-left are also vulnerable when it comes to the issue of women's rights. Senior SNP and Labour figures privately conceded that Farage's party can take votes from them on the regional lists from which 56 of Holyrood's 129 MSPs are elected.
John Swinney has set his course on this matter and he's heading away from voters. But, instead of capitalising on this foolishness, Scottish Labour's leader remains bafflingly unwilling to seize ownership of the issue.
Anas Sarwar's past betrayal of women's rights was morally indefensible. His failure to attend Sandie Peggie's tribunal and declare Labour her champions is politically inept.
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