DAVID Tennant could have endangered Kemi Badenoch’s security by ranting that she should “not exist”, a senior Tory warned today.
The left-wing actor came under fresh criticism for telling the Business Secretary to “shut up” following her repeated campaigning on trans issues infringing women’s rights.
Kemi Badenoch has bit back at David Tennant for saying he wishes she does “not exist”
Tennant has been criticised for his remarks at an LGBT awards do last week
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins appearing on Never Mind The Ballots this morning
Rishi Sunak this morning lashed out at the Dr Who star for being “the problem” and stressed the importance of free speech.
And Health Secretary Victoria Atkins tore into Tennant and claimed his “cancel culture” comments were a sign of things to come under Labour.
Speaking on The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots show, she said: “I find it extraordinary that he thought it appropriate to speak in these terms.
“He knows, surely, the security risks that we all face in politics, but particular people face as well.”
Receiving an ally gong at the British LGBT Awards on Friday night, the Scottish actor said he was “a little depressed that acknowledging everyone has the right to be who they want to be . . . should merit any special award”.
He went on: “However, until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist anymore . . . I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up.”
But Ms Atkins defended Ms Badenoch for speaking in a “measured way about an important and sensitive topic of our time that concerns many people, not least women, who do not wish to be eradicated from our language because of the activities of trans activists.”
Rebuking Tennant, she added: “Can I say he’s a Labour party supporter and this is symptomatic of what the left does if they don’t like your views then they try to shut you up. This is exactly what has happened with the trans debate.
“It’s why when my opposite number Wes Streeting was asked about women asking reasonable questions about why our rights have to be diminished in order to help and support trans women, he said ‘oh just get over it’. It’s that dismissal of half the population that I find so troubling.”
Labour’s Mr Streeting has since expressed regret over his previous views and vowed to defend women’s rights.
But fuming Ms Atkins blasted: “My worry is that if Labour gets anywhere near power then we are going to see much more of this. My call to everyone is please don’t listen to actors spouting forth on stage.
“We are all entitled to our views, we are all entitled to express them in a lawful, and gentle and caring manner.
“That is exactly what I and Kemi have been doing on this very sensitive topic. It is simply not good enough for a male actor to try and shut us up.”
The Prime Minister told the actor he is “the problem” after his searing outburst at an LGBTQ+ awards bash.
Mr Sunak waded into the row on X, saying: “Freedom of speech is the most powerful feature of our democracy.
“If you’re calling for women to shut up and wishing they didn’t exist, you are the problem.”
Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer also slammed Tennant, insisting he “wouldn’t have engaged in the way” he did.
Speaking at a campaign event in Coalville, Leicestershire, he added: “I think it’s right that we should conduct all debate respectfully and I think that’s very important in politics.
“It’s particularly important when we’re in the heat of a general election campaign. People are trying to make their minds up on what to do a week on Thursday.
“It’s important that we do have these robust discussions but it’s got to be done respectfully.”
Minister for Equalities Ms Badenoch last night promised not to be cowed by “bullies”.
She railed last night: “A rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only black woman in government by calling for my existence to end.”
The row intensified today as Labour’s Dawn Butler said: “Not all Black women think the same. I agree with David Tennant.”
Her comment referred to Harry Potter author JK Rowling’s blast at Sir Keir for abandoning women concerned with gender ideology, including his own MP Rosie Duffield.
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It came as Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson plunged Labour deeper into controversy as she claimed trans women with penises will be able to use female toilets under the party’s plans.
She argued female lavatories were the right place for people with gender recognition certificates.
The current process to obtain the document involves stringent checks, including medical sign-offs and a requirement to live with their new gender identity for two years.
But Labour’s latest proposal could soften both of these rules.