Yesterday I received an email invitation to join the Conservative Party from Helen Whately MP, its Vice Chair for Women.
From: Helen Whately MP, Conservative Party Vice Chair, Women
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2018 9:37 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Don’t stand for thisToday at Prime Minister’s Questions Jeremy Corbyn called Theresa May a ‘stupid woman’.
This is just the latest in a long line of misogynistic behaviour from Corbyn and his top team.
Jeremy Corbyn ‘mansplained’ to the Prime Minister on International Women’s Day, called for women only train carriages and has a Shadow Chancellor who called a female MP a ‘b****’ and said she should be lynched.
Show them you won’t stand for this by joining the Conservative Party today.
We’re supporting more women to go as far as their talents will take them. Including tackling the abuse and intimidation women face in public life.
On top of this, with a Conservative government the female employment rate is close to a record high and the gender pay gap is at a record low.
That’s why I’m incredibly proud to be the Party’s Vice Chair for Women – join me as a member of the Conservative Party today.
Yours
Helen Whately MP
Conservative Party Vice Chair, WomenPS: Show Corbyn he can’t get away with calling Theresa May a ‘stupid woman’ by joining the Conservative Party.
What prompted this email?
Was it the ‘success’ of Theresa May in negotiating her Brexit deal?
Was it the ‘benefits’ of the introduction of Universal Credit?
No, the reason why Helen Whately thinks that I might want to join the Conservatives is that yesterday Jeremy Corbyn allegedly called Theresa May a “stupid woman” – an allegation that he denies.
One of the definitions of ‘stupid’ in the Cambridge English Dictionary is “silly or unwise; showing poor judgement or little intelligence”. Theresa May’s recent actions to force her deal through Parliament have been both unwise and showing poor judgement. Jeremy Corbyn’s insult, if he did say it, may be unparliamentary, but it is not inaccurate.
This week’s PMQs descended into pantomime – literally – with Theresa May taunting Labour with “He’s going to put a confidence vote. Oh, yes he is. Oh no he isn’t … Look behind you”. The scene later of Tory MPs crowding round the Speaker with their smartphones reminded me of a Hogarth print.
As this time of political crisis, with the increasing risk of a disorderly hard Brexit, is this the conduct that we should expect of our leaders? And is this the best reason that the Tories can find to support them?
* Simon Pike is Data Officer of Newbury and West Berkshire local party and a member of South Central Region executive.
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17 Comments
Is it the word “stupid” or the word “woman” to which Tories and self-styled “feminists” have taken exception?
Is it a case of “stupid person (or people)”:’ok-ish’, “stupid woman”: ‘misogynist’?
And where does that leave David Steel who, I believe, used to refer to Mrs Thatcher as “tbw”: short for “that (expletive deleted) woman”? Have the standards of what language may be used without causing synthetic outrage moved on since the 1980s?
Because the outrage is synthetic, it follows that offence can now be taken at will. I think we have now reached the point where to subject a member of the distaff tendency to the normal, abnoxious, unpleasant, cut and thrust of politics is to risk allegations of mysogeny, when the truth is that most politicians are equal opportunities insulters, happy to dish it out to all regardless of demographic. And to hear Loathsome playing the gender card yesterday was both surreal and nauseating.
I note that Simon’s piece has been tagged under “every day sexism”. I take it that someone has already decided that JC is guilty as charged. As regular readers will know, I rarely have a good word to say about Jessa, but on this occasion he is the victim of phoney indignation which trivialises a genuine problem.
So where does that put Ken Clarke, who referred to Mrs May, I believe, as “a bloody difficult woman”? What about Rees Mogg calling Mark Carney “a second rate Canadian politician”? The only thing that is factually correct, as far as I know, is the Governor of the Bank of England’s nationality. The rest is pure insult.
Correction. Rees Mogg called Carney “second tier”, which is, in some ways, even more insulting.
Bet JRM’s Nanny helped him with that one. Sorry, is that staffist?
In the words of Forrest Gump:-
Stupid is as stupid does.
And I seem to remember that John Stuart Mill had something to say about stupid persons and Conservatives?
@Jayne Mansfield: I believe that the J.S. Mill quotation that you refer to was … “I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant that stupid people are generally Conservative …”.
Yes Mill did say that, a quote still relevant in the 21st century and every century since he wrote it. The stupid are easily played and manipulated, all the more reason to value and priotise education, to reduce the number of “stupid” amongst us.
@ Sean Hagan,
Thank you.
It was a rhetorical question.
Mill himself had to clarify what he meant.
Corbyn simply spoke truth to power, as it were. Why on earth would I rush to join a party (ostensibly) led by a stupid, pigheaded, intransigent, incompetent person whichever their gender – or mine?
To paraphrase some key points list from another website.
1. Philip Hammond clearly and undeniably called Andrea Jenkyns a “stupid woman” in parliament.
2. May also invited two MPs both under investigation for alleged sexual offences to avoid losing the vote of no confidence in her leadership.
3. The Tory friendship of the vile Saudi regime (no further explanation needed).
4. Shaun Bailey’s attitudes towards women.
5. Chope and upskirting.
6. Phillip Davies fillibustering Domestic Violence bills out.
That’s what the current Conservative Party have to say about women.
Meanwhile Lord McNally’s comments go without comment…..
Lord McNally
“Read what she says. Why did she wait another seven years? She did so for political reasons, not for trauma. It is not outrageous.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton
Is it appropriate to undermine somebody who does not have a chance to answer? I invite the noble Lord to stop this now.
Lord McNally
I will not take any advice from the noble and learned Lord. He has already talked about hypocrisy; I bow to his expertise in that. I am embarrassing myself then.
Baroness Falkner of Margravine
You are not just embarrassing yourself; you are embarrassing all of us.
Lord McNally
All trials are trials for one’s life; all sentences are sentences of death. We are talking about a man who, until this case, was one of the giants of civil liberties, of sexual liberties—
(Citation: HL Deb, 17 December 2018, c1615)
(To Lord Newby’s credit he publically rebuked him moments later)
In my opinion, one of the most misogynist statements made against Mrs May was made by tory MP, Andrea Leadsom.
‘Andrea Leadsom on Theresa May and motherhood read the full transcript’ The Independent 2016.
Why bother with any sense of perspective when an ‘independent’ panel declared Boris Johnson’s notorious ‘bank robber/letterbox’ article as “fostering respect and tolerance for the wearing of the burqa.”
I’m reminded of the old adage about being sane ‘because I have a note from the asylum to prove it’
I just wonder if the email was intended for shocked women. That’s the sort of thing social profiling can lead to.
Personally, I’d try to avoid calling anyone stupid – “s* woman or s* man. In practice, hearing the words, you can judge a lot from the stress: “Stupid WOMAN!” is sexist. “STUPID woman!” might not be.
Congratulations, Simon. I’ve been told I should be in the Labour Party (admittedly long ago, by a Labour member) and asked if I wanted to join the Freemasons (I think: it was characteristically indirect) and of course to be a Jehovah’s Witness, but have never been invited to join the Tories. This is not a complaint.