The Conservative leadership contest had barely started when a single issue – where the candidates stand on the definition of a woman – sprang to the top of the agenda. Some commentators were surprised or disapproving, arguing that it’s a marginal issue compared with the soaring cost of living, inflation or the war in Ukraine. Of course there are wider issues that matter, but to say other issues loom large does not mean we cannot debate gender at all.
Indeed, unlike the Labour leadership, leading Tories clearly sense widespread discomfort about changes to language and public facilities that have happened with next to no consultation. And the prominence of the issue in the current contest suggests it is going to be one of the defining fights of the next general election.
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