Mick Hartley

More problems for those who speak out against the trans agenda:

A violence against women campaigner has claimed that she was sacked by Sadiq Khan’s administration after expressing concerns about transgender women being allowed into refuges for victims of rape and domestic abuse.

Joan Smith said she was removed by City Hall after raising the issue on behalf of charities funded by the mayor that were said to be concerned about the prospect of vulnerable women and girls having to share the spaces.

Smith also believes that she fell out of favour after calling for improvements in how the Metropolitan Police identified sexual predators in its ranks, and repeatedly highlighting “endemic misogyny” after the case of Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by a police officer.

Mm, she sounds awkward. Best not to confront her head on, then. Could be embarrassing. Best just to drop her. 

Smith has been told her services are no longer required and that her position will be taken over by an official at City Hall.

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime said there had been structural change across all its boards. However, Smith said she was convinced that she was “unpopular” at City Hall because of her efforts to protect women-only spaces.

She wrote to Khan last year after he tweeted that “trans women are women” and “trans men are men”. Smith said that charities, funded by City Hall, felt under growing pressure to admit trans women who had not had surgery into their refuges. Smith wrote that trans women should have access to the services they needed but that traumatised female victims of male violence should not have to share safe spaces with “individuals who have male bodies”. Khan did not respond.

Sophie Linden, his deputy mayor for policing, responded to a similar letter that the mayor’s approach to providing services was “led by the needs of victims and survivors on a clear principle of non-discrimination”. Smith and Karen Ingala Smith, chief executive of a non-profit organisation that runs refuges, wrote again to ask for an assurance that no women’s organisation would be penalised by City Hall for refusing access to male-bodied trans women. They did not receive a response.

Smith also questioned the wisdom of removing independent scrutiny when the recent behaviour of Met police officers towards women had been criticised, from the Everard case to the failure to properly investigate a missing persons report about Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, who were murdered last year.

A spokesman for the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, said: “The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime has undertaken a review of all of its partnership boards, including the VAWG [Violence Against Women and Girls] Board, to enhance the strategic leadership of the criminal justice system for London and to standardise how all the boards are chaired.

“Our boards bring together a broad range of experts and provide a plurality of viewpoints on the complex issues we are working to tackle. Joan Smith’s expertise and insights on the VAWG Board have been valuable and we are grateful for her time and service.”

Well, that's what bureaucrats are for: to issue fatuous obfuscatory and pompous blather.