JK Rowling turned down House of Lords offers
Author JK Rowling has revealed she has no interest in joining the British House of Lords and has turned down multiple offers of a peerage.
Kemi Badenoch, a leadership contender in the opposition Conservative Party which was swept from power in this year’s election, has said she would offer Rowling a peerage.
The Harry Potter creator, 59, was praised by Badenoch for being an outspoken figure in the gender debate.
Rowling wrote on X: “It’s considered bad form to talk about this but I’ll make an exception given the very particular circumstances.”
“I’ve already turned down a peerage twice, once under Labour and once under the Tories. If offered one a third time, I still wouldn’t take it. It’s not her, it’s me.”
Former equalities minister Badenoch claimed in an interview with the Talk online streaming service that she had “managed to get Dr Hilary Cass a peerage” following her controversial review of the National Health Service gender identity services.
The Cass review, published in April, found care had been directed by “ideology on all sides” and was based on “remarkably weak evidence”.
Lady Cass took her seat on Monday having been elevated to the upper chamber as an independent crossbench peer in Conservative leader Rishi Sunak’s dissolution honours list earlier this year.
Rowling welcomed the findings, which led to NHS England ending the prescription of puberty blockers for children experiencing gender dysphoria.
Scotland’s only clinic offering gender services to young people followed suit.
Some doctors and academics both in the UK and internationally have criticised the report, expressing concern about its methodology, and the British Medical Association has announced it will carry out an evaluation of the Cass Review.
Rowling has long been advocating for spaces for biological women to be protected, and spoken up about trans issues in the sports industry.
The former Labour donor, who gave the party £1 million ($A1.9 million) under the leadership of Gordon Brown, has previously claimed it has “abandoned women”.
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