JK Rowling has mocked Sir Keir Starmer after he defended Labour’s track record on women’s rights.

She compared the party to "a man who's been shagging a woman from work but thinks his wife should be cool about it because he's always put the bins out."

The row stems from an excoriating column for the Times written by the Harry Potter author.

READ MORE: JK Rowling: 'I'll struggle to vote Labour' over transgender rights

Ms Rowling, who has previously donated £1 million to the party, said: “As long as Labour remains dismissive and often offensive towards women fighting to retain the rights their foremothers thought were won for all time, I’ll struggle to support them.

“The women who wouldn’t wheesht (be quiet) didn’t leave Labour. Labour abandoned them.”

She continued: “I’ve been a Labour voter, a member (no longer), donor (not recently) and campaigner (ditto) all my adult life.

"I want to see an end to this long stretch of chaotic and often calamitous Tory rule. I want to want to vote Labour.”

Ms Rowling's comments come after Sir Keir appeared to shift his position on transgender rights during a televised debate. 

Last year, the Labour leader said "99.9% of women" do not have a penis and in 2021 stated it was "not right" for Labour MP Rosie Duffield to say that "only women have a cervix".

However, appearing on the BBC's Question Time on Thursday night, he said he agreed with former Labour leader Sir Tony Blair's position on the issue, saying "biologically, a woman is with a vagina and a man is with a penis".

Asked about his previous comments on Ms Duffield, he said the debate at the time had become “very toxic, very divided, very hard line”.

READ MORE: JK Rowling launches attack on BBC over new director of sport

In her Times article, Rowling said: "The impression given by Starmer at Thursday's debate was that there had been something unkind, something toxic, something hard line in Rosie's words, even though almost identical words had sounded perfectly reasonable when spoken by Tony Blair."

She added: "For left-leaning women like us this isn't, and never has been, about trans people enjoying the rights of every other citizen and being free to present and identify however they wish.

"This is about the right of women and girls to assert their boundaries. It's about freedom of speech and observable truth."

Asked about her criticisms while on the campaign trail, Sir Keir told reporters in south London: “I’m really proud of the long history of the Labour Party in making real progress on women’s rights, passing landmark legislation that has changed millions of lives.

“Now that battle is never over and we need to make further progress, which we will hope to do if we earn the trust and confidence of the voters at the General Election.

“As we do so, I’m also determined that one of the changes that we will bring about if we win the election is a reset of politics, to make sure that as we make progress, we do it in a context that brings people together, and all dialogue, all debate, is always done with respect for the views of everybody involved in those progress and in that discussion.”

Ms Rowling took to X, sharing a Guardian article quoting Sir Keir. 

"Labour giving the same energy as a man who's been shagging a woman from work but thinks his wife should be cool about it because he's always put the bins out," she tweeted.

Earlier this month, an internet troll who posted online messages threatening to kill Ms Rowling and Ms Duffield was given suspended jail sentences.

Glenn Mullen, 31, of Clyde Road, Manchester, admitted uploading audio clips in Gaelic threatening to kill Ms Rowling “with a big hammer” and said he was “going to see Rosie Duffield at the bar with a big gun”, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.