A Conservative politician has condemned a gender identity session at the Conservative Party Conference as "curated hatred" after heckling the panel from the front row. Andrew Boff, who wore a "Trans Rights are Human Rights" T-shirt, disrupted the discussion by shouting that the views being presented were "one sided" and the event had been wrongly billed as a "debate".
Boff has served as a Tory assembly member since 2008 and led the party in the London Assembly for three years. He told PA News agency afterwards: "It was curated hatred."
The session, titled "The meaning of sex: Gender Critical Debate", was chaired by shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho (Conservative). The panel included former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, who responded to Boff's interruptions by saying she would not apologise for defending the rights of women and girls.
Previous conference disruptions
This marks the second time Boff has heckled a gender-related session at a Conservative Party Conference. In 2023, he was ejected from the event after interrupting then home secretary Suella Braverman when she described "gender ideology" as "poison", with Boff calling her comments a "homophobic rant".
The panel claimed that others had previously "silenced" the debate and that those with gender critical views had not been able to discuss them without facing criticism.
Staying within the party
Despite his strong disagreement with the party's current stance on gender identity policy, Boff said he would not leave the Conservatives. "It's my party," he said. "Of course I'm not quitting."
He added: "I'll be here switching the lights off when all these buggers have gone off to Reform." Boff expressed confidence that the party would eventually shift back towards being more supportive of trans rights.
Vision for party's future
Boff believes the Conservative Party is currently in a temporary decline but will recover. "They will. I've been long enough in this party to know that there are troughs and there are peaks. We are in a trough at the moment," he said.
He criticised both the party's current representation and leadership quality. Boff envisions a return to "one nation Conservativism which talks about bringing people together, that talks about fiscal responsibility, that talks about not lying to people about what we can and cannot do".
"That's the Conservative Party I joined, and that's the Conservative Party that's going to return," he concluded.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
