Sir Keir Starmer said at the weekend that some women have a penis, causing uproar in the Labour Party.
Since becoming Opposition Leader in 2020, the Holborn and St Pancras MP has struggled to define what it means to be a woman.
On several occasions, he attempted to sidestep the question entirely in order to avoid upsetting the transgender community or women concerned about the erosion of their rights.
But, over the weekend, Starmer finally responded, siding with trans activists.
“For 99.9 per cent of women, it is completely biological… and of course they haven’t got a penis,” he told the Sunday Times.
“Some people identify as a different gender to the one they are born with.”
Vowing to protect women’s rights, he added: “I think there is a fear that somehow there could be the rolling back of some of the things that have been won.
“There are still many battles that need to go ahead for women and I don’t think we should roll anything back.”
He continued: “But simply turning it into a toxic divide advances the cause of no one – the cause of women or those that don’t identify with the gender that they were born into.”
Starmer has previously stated his intention to implement “self-declaration” for trans people.
Labour advisers are believed to have privately warned their party leader that such a policy could cost them the general election.