How many daughters does a man need to see date rape jokes as a sackable offence? | Catherine Bennett

Despite Rishi Sunak using his girls to show his grasp of women's rights, he still brushed James Cleverly's spiking gag aside

In his time in office, Rishi Sunak has done much to popularise an intensifier favoured by men wanting to advertise their commitment to women's interests while effacing any earlier indifference: As a father of daughters."

Without his in-house epiphanies, Sunak might never have understood, as a father to daughters", the need for girls to feel safe walking around in the evening or to be educated to the same extent as boys. Which is disturbing, but still. Better late, etc. His daughters are credited, too, in Sunak's tribute to the Lionesses' victories and with - women's rights are personal to me" - his appreciating the need for women's single-sex spaces.

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