The United Kingdom’s new “feminist political party” is off to a rocky start.
The Women’s Equality Party is trying to win its first seat in the UK parliamentary elections in June. But it looks like those plans have been derailed—thanks to angry, catty infighting.
Sophie Walker, the party’s leader, decided she would be the WEP’s candidate for a seat in Shipley, West Yorkshire—despite the fact that she lives more than two hundred miles outside the district, in London.
Walker apparently chose the seat because it’s currently represented by Philip Davies, whom she called “basically a sexist misogynist.” But while local feminists also oppose Davies, they became irate that Walker swooped in to run for their local seat.
Jenny Wilson, spokeswoman for the Shipley Feminist Zealots, told BuzzFeed News that Walker was putting her “own interests before actually considering the needs of the people on the ground, and that’s disappointing.”
She added: “I’ve lots of sympathy for WEP’s agenda, of course I do, but the way they’ve gone about it is unfortunate.”
Another local opponent, Kristina Diprose, wrote online about her lack of support for Walker, expressing her dismay that a “candidate parachuted in from London for a publicity stunt” was running against for the Shipley seat.
Walker is also under attack from Davies, her opponent—who called her out for refusing to believe in gender equality. “It is Ms Walker who is a politically correct sexist as she clearly opposes legislation treating men and women equally and she also believes in positive discrimination,” he said. “The Women’s Equality Party clearly doesn’t believe in true equality between men and women.”
It’s unlikely that the WEP would’ve been able to beat Davies in the first place: he received 50% of the vote in the 2015 election, and polling suggests he’s more popular than ever.
AAN Staff
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