Harry Potter author JK Rowling has hit out at Nadia Whittome after the Labour MP criticised Rosie Duffield, who announced her resignation from the party on Saturday (28 September).

Duffield, who has been the MP for Canterbury, in Kent, since 2017, announced she was resigning the Labour whip, in a letter published by The Sunday Times.

In the letter, she attacked prime minister Keir Starmer, criticising his “cruel and unnecessary” policies, such as scrapping the winter fuel payment for most pensioners and keeping the two-child benefit cap, and called out the “revelations of hypocrisy” that have been “staggering and increasingly outrageous” since Labour took power in July.

Duffield is known for her ‘gender-critical’ views, having repeatedly called trans women “male bodied” and saying transgender women should not have access to domestic violence shelters, women’s prisons and single-sex toilets.

In response to her resignation, Nottingham East MP Whittome, who has consistently supported trans rights, issued a statement on X/Twitter in which she said Duffield, who will now sit as an independent in the House of Commons, should have lost the whip long ago.

“No matter your views on her stated reasons for quitting, Rosie Duffield has made a political career out of dehumanising one of the most marginalised groups in society,” Whittome wrote. “She should never have been allowed the privilege of resigning.”

Duffield replied curtly: “Stay classy, Nadia x”.

Now, fellow ‘gender-critical’ campaigner Rowling, a friend of Duffield, has weighed in on the row.

“Rosie Duffield was one of the few female Labour politicians with the guts to stand up for vulnerable women and girls, while self-satisfied numbskulls like you fought to give away their rights and spaces,” she told Whittome on X. “Keep her name out of your mouth.”

Rowling later added: “That was my first draft. Well, it was, ‘F**k off, Nadia’, but same vibe.”

Tennis star Martina Navratilova and former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, who have both campaigned against trans inclusion in sports, as well as Australian trans-exclusionary app founder Sall Grover and radical feminist writer and lesbian Julie Bindel, also attacked Whittome’s post.

“This is such a lie. Shame on you”, Navratilova said, while Davies wrote: “You’re a traitor to women and probably one of the most unpleasant people I know of in politics.”

But Whittome has not been the only person to speak out about Duffield’s resignation.

Labour for Trans Right, a group that held a rally outside the party conference in Liverpool last which, where Whittome spoke, called Duffield’s resignation a “massive step to a more trans-inclusive Labour Party”, adding: “There is so much more to do, but tonight is going to be a good one.”