Latest news with #chauvinist
The Independent
11-08-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump comes across as a chauvinist but does respect women, says Reform MP
Donald Trump 'comes across as a bit of a chauvinist', but 'clearly does respect women', Reform UK's only female MP told the PA news agency. After a Westminster press conference that focused on women's safety, Sarah Pochin also said her party leader Nigel Farage was 'quite right' to have backed former Reform MP James McMurdock, despite his conviction for assaulting his girlfriend. The Runcorn and Helsby MP said: 'Donald Trump certainly comes across at times, when I look at him through the television or the media, as possibly a bit of a chauvinist or whatever. 'But look at his team: I mean, his press secretary (Karoline Leavitt) is awesome. 'He has a lot of very senior women in his team, so actually, he clearly does respect women and promotes women in his team, as Nigel is very much doing, as you've seen today with four senior women hosting this press conference. 'So, Reform are doing what they're doing, and as we've made it very clear this morning we are the only party that are putting the safety of women and children first.' Ms Pochin went on to say that Mr McMurdock, who was convicted of repeatedly kicking his girlfriend in 2006, is a 'shining example of someone who turned his life around'. She told PA: 'I think he was very young when that happened. 'But look, he's married, he's got five children, and he became a Member of Parliament… 'Once you start down and you're in trouble with the courts, it's so easy to go into a world of crime, but somebody like James turned his life around.' She added that he is a 'lovely chap' and Mr Farage was 'quite right at the time' to support him. Mr McMurdock now sits as an independent MP after allegations surfaced about his business dealings during the pandemic. The Reform leader of Kent County Council, Linden Kemkaran, said: 'He (Mr McMurdock) committed a crime in his youth. He was charged, convicted, served time for it, and since then, he's had a blameless life. 'I think in this country, we do need to have a little bit of forgiveness if somebody has done something silly. We all make mistakes. Some mistakes are bigger than others, obviously. 'I'm not condoning violence against women at all, obviously, but I just think it's, you know, where do you draw the line when someone's rehabilitated and when they're not, after having committed a crime and served time for it.' She added: 'I don't really see why people keep going on about it.' Both women went on to defend Reform UK's decision to vote against bereavement leave for pregnancy loss after 24 weeks. Ms Pochin said: 'It's clearly tragic when that happens. I'm a mother, I've got two grown-up boys, so I certainly can understand how people or mums or parents generally may feel absolutely distraught when that happens. 'But, you know, these things do happen. People have a lot of tragedy in their lives, and part of the human condition is that we pick ourselves up and we get on with it.' When asked whether she was saying that people who experience pregnancy loss should just 'get on with it', she said: 'That's not what I've said. 'I made it very clear that it's tragic and I feel compassionate as a mother towards anyone that that's happened to.' Ms Kemkaran added: 'I think we have to be careful about giving people too much specialist leave for lots of special conditions. 'About losing a pregnancy, obviously, it's a devastating thing to happen to any woman. I completely understand that. It's absolutely devastating. 'I think it's probably up to the individual employer to make sure their policies reflect their workforce.' Meanwhile, the Reform Mayor for Greater Lincolnshire Dame Andrea Jenkyns told PA she nearly quit after the the police 'let off' a man who 'wanted to kill' her. She said: 'The guy who was walking around the streets of Morley looking for me… he wanted to kill me. 'I was in the hairdresser's at the time, got a phone call, police telling me to stay there. 'And literally, the guy, they got hold of him, he said he was bored and got let off. 'But it's like, all that police time wasted. Nobody should be, even if it's a caution, nobody should actually be allowed to do these things. 'And, you know, I nearly quit then, because when you're a mummy yourself, it might have been a joke to this person, but you take safety personally.' She added: 'We've got to have zero tolerance policing, just like Rudy Giuliani did in the US, where no crime is too small to get punished.'
Telegraph
11-08-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump is ‘a bit of a chauvinist', says Reform's first female MP
Donald Trump can come across as 'a bit of a chauvinist', Reform UK's only female MP has said. Sarah Pochin, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, said the US president 'clearly does respect women', but he can 'certainly' appear prejudiced at times. She also distanced her party from the Republican leader, insisting Reform is 'not aligned with Donald Trump '. Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, is a long-standing friend of Mr Trump, having helped him campaign for the US election last year. However, he recently said the pair were in a 'slightly awkward position' for diplomatic reasons, with the president bound to deal with Sir Keir Starmer as leader of the UK. Ms Pochin made the remarks about Mr Trump in an interview following a press conference on Monday morning, at which she discussed women's safety in Britain. Asked about whether Reform had found itself 'aligning' with the president, she told the PA news agency: 'This party is not aligned with Donald Trump. Donald Trump does what he does over the pond, and we do what we do.' She added: 'The other thing I would say is, Donald Trump certainly comes across at times, when I look at him through the television or the media, as possibly a bit of a chauvinist, or whatever. 'But look at his team. I mean, his press secretary [ Karoline Leavitt ] is awesome – can't remember her name – but he has a lot of very senior women in his team. 'So actually, he clearly does respect women and promotes women in his team, as Nigel is very much doing, as you've seen today, with four senior women hosting this press conference.' Mr Trump has come under fire in the past for his remarks about women, having been recorded in 2005 boasting about 'grabbing [women] by the p----' and stating that 'when you're a star, they let you do it'. He went on to apologise for the comments, saying: 'Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong and I apologise.' Ms Pochin was elected as Reform's first female MP at the by-election to replace Mike Amesbury, the disgraced former Labour MP, in May. She described herself as a 'clean candidate', with no big scandals to speak of besides her expulsion from her local Tory group over a mayoral row in 2020. However, she has since emerged as an outspoken voice in Reform, most notably butting heads with Zia Yusuf, the party's then chairman, when she urged Sir Keir Starmer to ban the burka in June. Mr Yusuf resigned over the remarks but rejoined the party in a new role shortly afterwards. Ms Pochin's comments about Mr Trump risk putting her at odds with Mr Farage, who recently said his relationship with the president had 'always been one of friendship'. The Runcorn MP was one of four female Reform politicians hosting the press conference on Monday. She was joined by Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, who described herself as one of 'Farage's fillies', as well as Linden Kemkaran, the leader of Kent county council, and Laila Cunningham, a Westminster City councillor. During her speech, Ms Pochin claimed that illegal migrants from 'predominantly Muslim' countries put women 'at risk of sexual assault'. 'The inconvenient truth for the Left is that the culture of men from predominantly Muslim countries like Afghanistan is one that holds a medieval view of women's rights,' she said. 'It is fundamentally alien to the centuries of progress made by our own western culture and attitudes. 'Women are at risk of sexual assault and rape from these men, hundreds of young men who arrive in this country, housed in our communities, who undoubtedly become sexually frustrated, have a warped view of their right to sexually assault women.' During her speech, Ms Kemkaran stressed the need to protect single-sex spaces, saying: 'It is a fact that allowing biological men into women's spaces has made women and girls in the UK less safe.' However, Reform was forced to defend its own policies after it emerged that men attending the event at the party's headquarters had been asked to use the women's lavatories for security reasons. It came days after Reform was caught in a row over trans rights, with Mr Farage distancing himself from his new justice adviser over the issue of trans women in female prisons. I have never supported men in women's prisons. — Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) August 5, 2025 Asked why men were using the women's lavatories at the press conference, a Reform source said: 'Due to operational security, it's the press toilets when we have a press conference or use the event space. They're individual lockable cubicles.' By the end of the event, the sign on the door to the women's lavatories had been covered by a piece of paper saying 'press toilet'.
