Hunt Move

Former Stonewall chief Baroness Ruth Hunt has landed a powerful Whitehall watchdog role. Hunt, who led the charity’s dive into trans campaigning, has been appointed a Civil Service Commissioner, joining the body responsible for ensuring senior Civil Service appointments are made “on merit on the basis of fair and open competition”. 

The controversial peer led Stonewall from 2014 to 2019, transforming it from an LGB rights charity into the country’s most influential trans lobby group. Shortly after taking the helm, the then 34-year-old oversaw a consultation with 700 trans-identified people before formally adding the “T” to the organisation’s remit in 2015. 

Under Hunt, Stonewall’s Diversity Champions scheme grew to more than 850 members, embedding its influence across Whitehall departments, police forces, NHS trusts, universities and regulators. It was also during her time at Stonewall that campaigners first began raising concerns about the growing number of same-sex attracted adolescents being referred to NHS gender clinics and prescribed puberty blockers.

Hunt’s appointment, confirmed in July, coincided with an employment tribunal that has exposed Stonewall’s enduring influence inside Whitehall. The case, brought by Samantha Tempest, a man who identifies as trans, against DEFRA, heard evidence that officials sought to marginalise and smear the Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN), the staff network for civil servants with gender-critical beliefs.