Women cannot be born with a penis, said Boris Johnson, supporting the decision to ban transgender women from competing in women’s swimming.
The prime minister said he saw “no reason to disagree” with a World Swimming decision banning transatlees who have reached male puberty from competing in women’s competitions.
Asked if a woman could be born with a penis, Mr Johnson said: “Not without being a man”, adding that there is a difference between being a woman and a trans woman.
Last week, World Swimming announced that only swimmers who passed before the age of 12 would be eligible to compete in women’s competitions.
The decision came after Leah Thomas, a male-to-female swimmer, became the first transgender person to win the top-level title in American collegiate sport.
Other British sports governing bodies are now facing pressure to reform their policies. British Cycling has suspended its domestic policy of including transgender people pending review, and World Athletics will also reconsider its approach.
“You have to be very sensitive”
Speaking in Kigali, Rwanda, Mr Johnson said: “It is very, very important as a society to be as understanding as possible. I have always advocated this.
“As you begin to move from issues of sexuality to issues of gender, you begin to raise specific issues.”
He said there were three main concerns – the age at which people are considered competent to transition, the issue of a safe space for women and difficulties in sports.
“These are all very difficult problems and you have to be very sensitive,” Mr Johnson added.
Labor has been criticized for its stance on transgender issues, and earlier this year Sir Keira Starmer declined to answer the question of whether a woman could have a penis.
The issue has been a dividing point in the party for more than a year, after Sir Keir said that Rosie Duffield’s comment that “only women have a cervix” was “incorrect”.
Yvette Cooper and Anneliese Dodds, two of the previous Labor MPs, both refused to give a definition of a woman.
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