Charlotte Nichols 'inadvertently misled' House of Commons

The Labour MP became embroiled in a row over whether another MP claimed that casting a woman as the Doctor in Doctor Who had 'turned boys gay.'

Ms Nichols made the claim that Conservative MP Nick Fletcher - who represents Don Valley - spoke in a Westminster Hall debate and said that Jodie Whittaker's casting in the sci-fi show would 'turn boys gay.'

Warrington North's MP admitted she misled the House (Image: Warrington Guardian)

Mr Fletcher vehemently denied the Warrington North MP's claim, and referred Ms Nichols to the Parliamentary record (known as Hansard) in order to fact-check her claims.

The Tory MP said: "I would ask the honourable member to withdraw that.

"I refer to Hansard, that is not what I said, that is an outright lie."

However, it is deemed inappropriate to call another MP a liar in Parliament, and therefore Mr Fletcher was directed to accuse Ms Nichols of 'unintentionally misleading the House,' rather than calling her a liar.

In her response, Ms Nichols admitted that she had indeed misled the House.

The furore was sparked by a debate over the Government's decision to block the Scottish Parliament's gender recognition legislation, which would allow decision-making on gender identity to take place from the age of 16, among other changes.

My bad- he said a female Doctor Who turns boys to a life of crime- so the issue was one of misogyny rather than homophobia, but in any case I'm not getting lectured on the importance of the Equality Act by MPs with zero demonstrated interest in equality. Give me a break! 🙃 https://t.co/Rfs55NIj6D

— Charlotte Nichols (@charlotte2153) January 17, 2023

Ms Nichols initially said: "Frankly, I've been disgusted by a lot of the tone of the debate today.

"There are a lot of people who I'm very interested to hear suddenly become massive defenders of equality, including the honourable member from Don Valley who I remember being in a Westminster Hall debate with when he said that Doctor Who being a woman was turning boys gay, among other ridiculous arguments."

Mr Fletcher shouted back: "That's not what I said."

Ms Nichols then responded: "Yes it is[...] I will not withdraw it."

Following intervention from the House's deputy speaker, Ms Nichols then said: "On checking Hansard, the honourable member said that Doctor Who being a woman was turning boys towards a life of crime.

"So clearly it was a matter of misogyny rather than homophobia.

"However, I'm very sorry for having inadvertently misled the House in accusing the member in a very legitimate comment I made about his brand new respect for our equality legislation in having made a remark that was misogynist rather than in fact homophobic.

"So I apologise for that omission."

Nick Fletcher MP was falsely accused of claiming a female lead in Doctor Who would 'turn boys gay' (Image: Parliament UK)

Charlotte Nichols was referring to a statement made by Mr Fletcher in November 2021, which included the following phrase: "In recent years we have seen Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Luke Skywalker, the Equalizer all replaced by women - and men are left with the Krays and Tommy Shelby.

"Is there any wonder we are seeing so many young men committing crime?"