declaring his involvement in helping britain s former prime minister, borisjohnson, secure a loan. thousands of people in new zealand are left without power as parts of the country endure the start of a severe storm with warnings of more destruction to come. you re watching bbc news. now it s time for political thinking with nick robinson hello and welcome to political thinking. the row about how and why a rapist called adam ended up in a women s prison has shone a spotlight on a debate which in truth, has been raging notjust for months, but for years. at the centre of that debate is the charity and campaigning organisation stonewall. my guest on political thinking this week is the new chair of stonewall. he s iain anderson and he s got a cv that might surprise you. he s a lifelong conservative. he went to school with michael gove in aberdeen and he ended up running a leadership campaign for ken clarke. he s also a westminster insider who s operated behind the scenes at very
providing refuge for asylum seekers on merseyside in northwest england. now it s time for political thinking with nick robinson. hello and welcome to political thinking. the row about how and why a rapist called adam ended up in a women s prison has shone a spotlight on a debate which in truth, has been raging notjust for months, but for years. at the centre of that debate is the charity and campaigning organisation stonewall. my guest on political thinking this week is the new chair of stonewall. he s ian anderson and he s got a cv that might surprise you. he s a lifelong conservative. he went to school with michael gove in aberdeen and he ended up running a leadership campaign for ken clarke. he s also a westminster insider who s operated behind the scenes at very high level with ministers of all political parties. he set up and he now runs one of the largest lobbying firms in britain, cicero. he now fears that we are entering an american style culture war and we might in b
to ask is he a man or is he a woman? no, it s not an irrelevant question to ask. this is a transitioning individual. so, is he not a man or a woman? who is now identifying as a woman. but that s describing what he thinks. i m asking what do you think, is he a man or is he a woman? well, what this person is is a rapist. the reason many people think it matters, even if it was one in 10 million, is it because it s about the principle. the principle at the heart of this complicated row is a simple one. stonewall appears to be asserting that a trans woman is in all circumstances whoever they are, whatever they ve done, whatever their genitalia, is a woman legally, forever. so the way in which this
can use a good old scottish word stooshie about this whole conversation. we got to a place over a decade ago now where rights for those with what are called protected characteristics and all lgbtq+ people i think fall into that space have protections. i can tjust understand why we ve kind of gone backwards in some of this conversation over the last 12, 13 yea rs. well, because a man with a penis was sent to a women s prison. in an era in which you re telling me that there are rights to safe spaces. it happened. and stonewall said it wouldn t happen. yeah, and this individual is a rapist. and the full force of the law should apply to that individual. is he a man or a woman? well, that person committed an offence whilst a man, has transitioned to being a woman. and the scottish prison service, as i believe would happen in england and wales as well, has undertaken a risk assessment pretty quickly and put said individual into a man s prison. but it s not an irrelevant question
that i m about. respect is, i hope, how people work with me, how i try and work with them. it s a good word, and i think it s a good comment. that is my approach. we might even get that tent open again and you can have some of your critics in it, as well as people who are. well, yeah. iain anderson, chair of stonewall. thank you for coming on political thinking. thank you. when stonewall chose as its chair, someone who was seen in westminster as a smoothie, as a fixer, as a pr man and a lobbyist, some thought the cynics, you might say, that this was just putting a new gloss, a rather more comfortable language on top of stonewall s existing positions. 0thers hoped that iain anderson would actually lead stonewall in a new direction, willing