He accepts the difference

So the ground is beginning to shift?

The Health Secretary has backtracked on his previous claim that trans women are women.

James Murray, who replaced Wes Streeting last month, previously said he defined women as “adult female and trans women”.

However, he has now claimed to have “changed what I would say” and that he accepts the difference between sex and gender.

So what is gender then? Is a skirt one gender while jeans are another? Short hair one gender and long hair the other? Crying one gender, shouting the other?

On Monday, Mr Murray was told by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Mr Streeting had changed his mind on trans rights.

Asked whether he had shifted his own position, Mr Murray responded: “Yeah, I have changed what I would say. I wouldn’t say that phrase any more. And I think that over the last few years a lot of us, myself included, have thought about this question in some detail.

Oh yes? Why didn’t you do it sooner?

But also – really? What kind of “detail”? What detail does it take to decide that oh right, it all becomes clear now, men are not women after all? Please do spell out the “detail” part. Please also explain why you didn’t think about it in some detail from the outset.

“I believe that single-sex spaces should be protected on the basis of sex, on the basis of biological sex, whilst at the same time believing in dignity for trans people – recognising that sex and gender are different things, but being absolutely clear that single-sex spaces within the NHS, for instance, need to be protected on the basis of sex.”

The thing about that is that being a trans person is itself a move away from “dignity”. There is no dignity in claiming to be the sex you’re not.

Saying you’re uncomfortable or miserable or furious with the rules about how women and men are supposed to look and behave is entirely compatible with dignity, but pretending to be the one you’re not is not.

Mr Murray once said that it was very important to debate trans rights in an interview in which he defended a transgender swimmer competing against female athletes.

Funny what a hard time they have perceiving the obvious.