Rishi Sunak is refusing to apologise for a transgender joke he made yesterday in the Commons.
The Prime Minister, who is visiting constituencies in the South West, was repeatedly pressed on whether he would say sorry to Brianna Ghey’s family after he father Peter Spooner called the jibe “dehumanising” and “degrading”.
Mr Sunak had accused Sir Keir Starmer of being incapable of “defining a woman” in an attack on Labour U-turns in the Commons, while Esther Ghey, Brianna’s mother, visited Parliament.
The comments sparked widespread criticism, with some Tory MPs also conceding that the Prime Minister had made a mistake in his remarks.
He has so far declined to apologise, with the Labour leader on Thursday urging him to do so “as swiftly as possible”.
Mr Sunak rejected the idea he had been making a joke after he was grilled during an interview today on BBC Radio Somerset, as he sought to blame Sir Keir instead.