JK Rowling says what most people “secretly think” about gender, Boris Johnson has declared.
The former prime minister hailed the Harry Potter author as a “modern saint” for her stance on trans issues.
Mr Johnson said Rowling’s views on gender are “what 95 per cent of the population secretly think”.
He added that people “don’t have the guts” to speak out like the children’s author “because they’re worried that they will offend somebody”.
Speaking at a conservative conference in Ottawa yesterday, the ex-premier said her battle was part of a wider fight for free speech in Britain.
The Harry Potter author believes that people cannot change their biological sex and has been a fierce defender of women’s rights.
She has been at the centre of a fresh gender row after new hate crime laws came into force in Scotland last week.
Rowling branded a series of high-profile trans women as men in a post on social media platform X and challenged police to arrest her.
Mr Johnson’s intervention comes as the author hinted she would not forgive Harry Potter stars who criticised her gender views.
She made the comment following the publication of the Cass Review on gender care for children on the NHS.
The report said children have been let down by a lack of research and evidence on medical interventions in gender care.
In a post on X, Rowling said the major review was a “watershed” moment.
Another user claimed Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson owe her “a very public apology… safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them”.
Rowling replied: “Not safe, I’m afraid.”
She added: “Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single-sex spaces.”