Outrage as trans activist mocks Dame Jenni Murray hours after broadcaster's death was announced

A Trans activist has sparked fury after taking aim at former Woman’s Hour presenter Dame Jenni Murray less than 24 hours after the much-loved broadcaster’s death was announced.

Writing on the social media platform X, India Willoughby accused Dame Jenni of spreading ‘Terf garbage’ and for helping to create an anti-trans atmosphere in the UK.

The 60-year-old transwoman recalled an appearance on Woman’s Hour in 2017 to talk about her own roles as a newsreader on Channel 5 and a columnist on the ITV programme Loose Women.

She wrote: ‘I was invited onto WH for what I was expecting to be a regular light showbiz interview – but straight away, Jenni Murray was snotty as hell – asking “What qualifies you to present a show for women?”’

Willoughby also referred to an article which Dame Jenni subsequently wrote for The Times.

She recalled: ‘A few days later, she wrote a hit-piece double-page spread in The Times, saying I wasn’t a real woman, and all the usual Terf garbage we now hear every day. Really horrible stuff. I complained – and the BBC suspended her for six months.’

Dame Jenni was banned by the BBC from discussing trans issues on air following the complaint, and although she was not suspended, she left the show in October 2020 after 33 years.

The Daily Mail columnist, who died at the age of 75, wrote in the newspaper last year: ‘I wasn’t sacked but I was banned from discussing the debate on air. More tweets followed with India calling me a nasty cow and far worse.’

Yesterday, Willoughby was criticised on social media for her remarks about Dame Jenni. One wrote: ‘How did we know you’d make this all about you? Jenni was absolutely right. You’re not a woman.’

There was also support for the line of questioning taken by Dame Jenni in 2017.

One wrote: ‘It was a fair question. What qualifies a man to host a show for women? That women lose or are suspended from their jobs if they question a man, is peak patriarchy.’

Another said Willoughby’s criticism of Dame Jenni would not detract from her career as a brilliant broadcaster.

They wrote: ‘Jenni was a brilliant woman, not worried about speaking the truth, an undoubted champion of women. You were a speck on her amazing career. RIP.’

During yesterday’s edition of the Today programme, presenter Nick Robinson alluded to the fact that Dame Jenni felt ‘shunned’ by the BBC and others because of her participation in the trans debate.

He made the point in an interview with Harriet Harman, a former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, who is herself a trans supporter.

Ms Harman told the programme that Dame Jenni’s involvement in the trans debate shouldn’t detract from her wider contribution to the feminist movement.

Maya Forstater, CEO of the campaign group Sex Matters, said: ‘It was an absolute insult for the BBC to have Harriet Harman on the Today Programme where she insinuated that Jenni Murray’s principled stand detracted from her feminism rather than forming an integral part of it.’

Ms Willoughby last night declined to comment.