Lee Anderson made a hilarious quip about Labour’s new health minister in the Commons today.
The Reform MP aimed Ashley Dalton over her previous claims that people can identify as llamas.
Mr Anderson, who represents Ashfield, told MPs: “The new health minister has stated that it’s ok for a human being to present as a llama.
“So what I want to know is if I have a family member who presents as a llama suddenly becomes ill in the middle of the night do they send for a doctor, a vet or a straitjacket?”
His comments sparked laughter from other MPs in the House of Commons.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting replied: “I can just say to the honourable member that my honourable friend the minister for public health believes in treating every human being with the dignity and respect they deserve, even the honourable gentleman.”
Ms Dalton was appointed a health and social care minister after Andrew Gwynne left the Government when derogatory remarks he made in a WhatsApp group came to light.
The Labour MP for West Lancashire said on X, formerly Twitter, in 2016 that “we shouldn’t have gendered bathrooms at all”.
In another social media exchange in the same year – before she was an MP – Ms Dalton signalled her support for gender self-identification.
When asked if people should take someone seriously if they identify as a llama, Ms Dalton signalled they should do so with “dignity and respect” in a post that appears to have since been deleted.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman yesterday sought to distance Sir Keir Starmer from the past remarks of the new minister.
Labour dropped a pledge to introduce gender self-identification for trans people without a medical diagnosis in 2023 after it had previously promised to do so.
At the time, the party said medical diagnosis helped to uphold confidence in the gender identification system.