Boris Johnson offers support to trans MP just hours after mocking gender identity
Boris Johnson has praised the ‘courage’ of the first British MP to come out as trans, hours after reportedly joking about gender identity to a room full of Tories.Tweeting in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Jamie Wallis, the Conservative MP for Bridgend, revealed he had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and spoke about the recent trauma of being raped and blackmailed.Mr Johnson is said to have opened his speech at a dinner for Tory MPs earlier that night by saying: ‘Good evening ladies and gentleman, or as Keir Starmer would put it, people who are assigned female or male at birth.’After Wallis’s announcement, the prime minister tweeted: ‘Sharing this very intimate story would have taken an immense amount of courage. ‘Thank you for your bravery, which will undoubtedly support others.
The Conservative Party I lead will always give you, and everyone else, the love and support you need to be yourself.’Wallis referenced the dinner in his statement, which was posted with the caption: ‘It’s time’.The MP said: ‘I’m trans.
Or to be more accurate, I want to be. I’ve been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and I’ve felt this way since I was a very young child. ‘I had no intention of ever sharing this with you.
