Boris Johnson: JK Rowling says what most people secretly think about gender

JK Rowling just says what most people “secretly think” about gender, Boris Johnson has said.

Speaking at a conservative conference in Ottawa, Mr Johnson on Wednesday hailed JK Rowling as a “modern saint” for her stance on transgender women and claimed that her views on gender are “what 95 per cent of the population secretly think”.

The former prime minister on Wednesday said people “don’t have the guts” to say what the Harry Potter author voices publicly “because they’re worried that they will offend somebody”.

Rowling has been at the centre of a row over gender since new hate crime laws came into force in Scotland last week.

She challenged police to arrest her in a social media post in which she called a series of high-profile trans women men. Police in Scotland ruled that no offence had been committed.

Rowling has criticised trans women being allowed to use women’s bathrooms and insisted that it is not possible for surgeries or hormones to “literally turn a person into the opposite sex”.

Mr Johnson on Wednesday defended the author, saying her battle was part of a wider fight for free speech in Britain. He said it was “unbelievable” what Rowling’s critics were saying about her.

He added: “She’s probably done more to encourage young people to read around the world than any other person I can think of.”

“And by the way, what’s so crazy, is what she says about gender is, of course, what 95 per cent of the population secretly think.”

Mr Johnson also used the event to attack his successor, Rishi Sunak, over his support for a ban on cigars.

The Prime Minister last year announced a phased ban on tobacco products under which the age of sale would rise by one year every year from 2027.

Mr Johnson criticised the ban, saying some of Mr Sunak’s policies that are “being done in the name of conservatism” are “absolutely, absolutely nuts”.

He said: “I see my beloved party... we’re banning cigars. And what is the point? The party of Winston Churchill wants a ban! I mean, donnez-moi un break as they say in Quebec. It’s just mad.”