{"id":533452,"date":"2026-04-16T04:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/533452\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T04:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:00:10","slug":"labour-mps-pour-cold-water-on-summer-of-sex-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/533452\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour MPs pour cold water on \u2018summer of sex\u2019 campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Downing Street has distanced itself from a Labour MP\u2019s \u201csummer of sex\u201d campaign as it was suggested that the NHS could offer sex education to adults.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This week Samantha Niblett, the MP for South Derbyshire, launched her \u201cYes Sex Please, We\u2019re British!\u201d campaign before a debate on lifelong sex education in the Commons in the early autumn.<\/p>\n

As part of the push, she plans to go on a tour to visit a \u201cwhole bank of organisations to speak with and gather information, so we can talk about sex all summer\u201d, as well as holding an exhibition of sex toys in parliament.<\/p>\n

However, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, used the campaign to attack the government in the Commons on Wednesday, and No 10 appeared to distance Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> from the endeavour.<\/p>\n

\"ConservativeKemi Badenoch in the Commons on WednesdayHouse of Commons\/PA<\/p>\n

Badenoch<\/a> told the Commons: \u201cThis is a moment of profound national seriousness and what are they doing? They are promoting sex toys in parliament. It gives a whole new meaning to fiddling while Rome burns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niblett, 46, said better sex education would improve people\u2019s understanding of consent and prevent abuse and violence, and it would also raise awareness of how childbirth, the menopause, stress and other health conditions can affect sexual satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Niblett told Politics Home that she wanted the campaign<\/a> to be about \u201ctaking control of our patriotism, about taking control of our Britishness and not feeling ashamed\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, she has faced criticism from some colleagues who felt the campaign distracted from more serious issues. Asked if it was appropriate, the prime minister\u2019s spokesman said: \u201cSamantha Niblett is a backbench MP and I\u2019d point any questions to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SamanthaNiblett has proposed a parliament sex education debate<\/p>\n

On Wednesday Niblett told BBC2\u2019s Politics Live that the information on sex education was \u201cpatchy at best\u201d. She said: \u201cIf you try and go online to find the information, often information you\u2019re really searching for is shadow banned and accounts can be blocked because certain words describing even anatomy are blocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIt feels like the perfect time to be talking openly. If we can remove shame that\u2019s so frequently associated with sex, it makes it much harder to use it as a weapon against people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Hayes, the Labour MP for Bournemouth East, said it was \u201cgreat\u201d that Niblett wanted to lead on the cause but added that his voters would not \u201cwant to talk dirty \u2014 I think they want to talk defence\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said: \u201cFor me, it\u2019s not about a summer of sex. It is about an all-year-round, round-the-clock focus on the cost of living. That\u2019s for me, but other colleagues will talk about a lot of other things. And that\u2019s what makes parliament so great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niblett suggested that the NHS<\/a> could be a \u201cstart\u201d where sex education could continue in adulthood.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIt\u2019s about actually people not turning to pornography as their place of education, which we know a lot of men do as well. And actually that sets up their expectations of what to expect with a woman on the wrong track as well. So yes, it\u2019s lifelong sex education.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she had not had any negative feedback from colleagues \u201cto my face\u201d, adding: \u201cSometimes they\u2019re telling the media and they\u2019re not telling me. And that\u2019s kind of a shame, really.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be braver to come and have the conversation. But actually where there is negative feedback and people thinking it\u2019s inappropriate, my pushback would be, well, let\u2019s have a conversation about it. Why do you think it\u2019s inappropriate? It\u2019s the one thing that most of us have to do to make babies. It\u2019s the one thing most of us want to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI should make it clear as well, if you don\u2019t want to have sex, that also is absolutely OK and nobody should be shamed for feeling that way. But we can\u2019t talk about it if we don\u2019t talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Downing Street has distanced itself from a Labour MP\u2019s \u201csummer of sex\u201d campaign as it was suggested that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-533452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}