JK Rowling slams Starmer over new Harriet Harman role amid trans row

JK Rowling has blasted Keir Starmer for appointing Labour stalwart Harriet Harman as Downing Street's new adviser on women and girls following her past comments that trans women are women.

The under-fire Prime Minister appears to be inviting Labour grandees back into the fold after a disastrous set of local election results.

Starmer posted a picture on X of himself sitting next to Harman, while proudly announcing her new role advising the government.

But Rowling, who has championed the rights of biological women, referred to Harman's past statement that trans women are women and quipped: "You cannot defend what you're afraid to define."
Later on, she added: “Once somebody's proven they're too frightened of being called 'bigot' to defend the most vulnerable, they've shown who they are.”
Harman was Britain's longest-serving female MP as the Labour member for Camberwell and Peckham from 1982 to 2024, as well as deputy leader and chairman of the Labour Party for eight years from 2007 to 2015.

An avowed feminist, Harman has also spoken up for trans rights.

In 2022, she stated: "As far as I’m concerned, women are women who are born women, but women are also women who are trans women."
Speaking after the Prime Minister's announcement, Rowling wrote on X: "Bravo, Keir Starmer, for getting in an Adviser on Women and Girls who thinks the definition of women and girls includes men and boys.

"That'll definitely win back people who believe Labour's a party for smug, lanyard-wearing, luxury-belief-espousing cultural elitists."
Rowling, a former Labour supporter herself, later added: "Polite notice to those urging me to show blind tribal allegiance to a party that's screwed over female nurses who want to change in a female-only space, female prisoners housed with male sex offenders and female rape survivors who want an all-female support service: nope."
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Harriet Harman’s office has been approached for comment.