Mick Hartley

More from the Mail on Stonewall, looking in particular at its influence over policy-making in Scotland and Wales – and the Labour Party:

'The reason Stonewall is so successful is that it is using the legacy of credibility that we built up from the successful campaigns between 1989 and 2014,' says Simon Fanshawe, one of the original founders of Stonewall, who has since become disillusioned with the charity's approach.

'It is misusing that legacy because it is no longer making alliances. It is now making total demands.

Certainly, while Stonewall has repeatedly insisted that its Diversity Champions guidance has no bearing on legislation or internal parliamentary discussions, its fingerprints can be found everywhere….

In recent months, meanwhile, the charity's focus has pivoted towards the Bill to ban the controversial practice of conversion therapy.

Stonewall wants gender identity to be covered in the planned ban, in addition to sexuality. It argues that transgender people are one of the groups at highest risk of conversion practices in the UK.

Yet many psychologists and medical practitioners have warned that including trans people in the Bill risks criminalising anyone who dares to question a young person who is confused about their gender.

They argue that the legislation would leave therapists who wish to explore whether there are other issues at play — such as mental health and sexuality — open to accusations that they are trying to 'convert' patients.

Yet the Mail can reveal that this has not stopped Stonewall's demands from gaining traction within Labour.

There is mounting evidence that the group is stepping up its efforts to forge links with the party ahead of the next election. Some argue that this won't be a challenge considering that Sir Keir Starmer has been unable to define what a woman is.

Following his criticism of Labour MP Rosie Duffield for saying that only women have a cervix, he clarified his position by saying that 99.9 per cent of women 'haven't got a penis' — implying that one in 1,000 do. One Labour insider revealed to the Mail that Stonewall boss Nancy Kelley held a Zoom call with Labour staff members earlier this year.

According to one attendee, Kelley talked about Britain having a 'gender-affirming health service' and how she wanted the next Labour government to bring in a 'bill of rights' that would put 'non-binary' and 'intersex' terms into legislation.

She went on to accuse the media of manufacturing a war against transgender people that was not representative of the views of the general public.

Three months after this meeting — labelled a 'briefing' by one party source — a document was leaked detailing Labour's policy programme, which was widely seen as a blueprint for its next General Election manifesto.

It contained a promise to introduce a 'full, trans-inclusive ban' on conversion practices, while also 'modernising the process of gender recognition'.

Clearly aware of the ongoing rub between transgender rights and women's rights, the policy document talks about building consensus and upholding the Equality Act's provision of single-sex exemptions.

But there remains concern among women's groups such as Labour Women's Declaration (LWD).

In April it published an article condemning the party's continuing involvement with Stonewall and calling for it to review its annual subscription and membership fees to an organisation it referred to as 'increasingly discredited'.

'Stonewall is a well-funded lobby group, with corporate links and funding,' it said. 'It is not a democratic campaign and is increasingly out of step with the views of lesbian and gay people. The Labour Party should not be paying a lobby group to mark its own homework.'…

Perhaps the last word on the subject should go to the person who was there at the charity's inception, Simon Fanshawe.

'Stonewall has long had a powerful influence,' he says. 'But this is no longer predicated on its credibility. Sadly, in a political climate where disagreement is regarded as bigotry, that influence is now based on fear.'