DAN HODGES: Hypocrisy of the female Labour MP so vocal about women’s rights who praised a segregated Muslim march
Daily Mail columnist Dan Hodges accuses Walthamstow Labour MP Stella Creasy of hypocrisy after she posted a celebratory video from a Muslim Milad il Nabi march that turned out to be gender-segregated, with young women confined to a separate parade away from the main, male-only procession. Hodges contrasts this with Creasy's outspoken past campaigns for gender equality, including her leading role in criticising the Garrick Club's male-only membership and her advocacy for trans women's access to female-only spaces, arguing she has applied a double standard when it comes to practices within Muslim communities.
The piece notes that when challenged by journalist Jenni Russell over whether the women in her video had been segregated from the march, Creasy confirmed they had. Hodges links this to electoral calculation, citing census figures showing roughly 25% of Walthamstow's population is Muslim, equating to over 20,000 voters against Creasy's 17,000 majority. He also draws a parallel with Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, who faced resignation calls from rape gang victims after blocking a national inquiry, suggesting both MPs have softened their principles in constituencies with significant Muslim electorates.
- Hodges accuses Stella Creasy of hypocrisy over a segregated Muslim march she praised
- Women were kept separate from the male-only main march, Creasy admitted
- Column links this to Walthamstow's Muslim vote share and her 17,000 majority
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Stella Creasy is the Labour MP for Walthamstow in east London and has built a public profile as a prominent campaigner on women's rights issues, including equal pay, maternity rights for MPs, and mixed-sex membership of private clubs. Milad il Nabi, also known as Mawlid, is an annual celebration marking the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, marked by some Muslim communities with processions and public events. Dan Hodges is a Daily Mail columnist known for opinion pieces on Labour Party politics.
The background to this story concerns a video Creasy shared online of a Milad il Nabi procession in her constituency, which drew attention because women and men reportedly took part in separate, segregated sections of the event. This raised questions about how the arrangement squared with her past advocacy for gender equality, since critics see segregated public events as being at odds with those principles, while others view religious and cultural customs as a separate matter from workplace or institutional equality campaigns.
This story matters because it touches on wider, ongoing debates in British politics about how politicians balance support for women's equality with respect for religious and cultural practices within diverse constituencies, and about whether electoral considerations in areas with significant Muslim populations influence how MPs respond to such issues. Walthamstow has a substantial Muslim population, which is relevant to why some commentators link these questions to voting patterns and political calculation.