Labour MP Says Men Should Remember How To Be "Gentlemen"
Labour MP Will Stone lost a jiu-jitsu match to veteran fighter Matt Inman earlier this month (Will Stone)
5 min read
A new Labour MP has said society no longer encourages men to be “gentlemen” and he believed “old-school traditional values” should be re-established around positive masculinity.
Will Stone, who was elected as Labour MP for Swindon North in July, spoke to PoliticsHome ahead of International Men’s Day (IMD) on 19 November. This year will make the 25th official IMD after it was first celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999, and the theme for 2024 is “Positive Male Role Models”.
As a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, former army rifleman, and former nightclub bouncer, Stone was recently described by The Sun as “the world’s hardest politician”. He has plenty of experience living and working in stereotypically male environments, but said he had been “lucky” to have not succumbed to “toxic masculinity”.
“When I was growing up, my dad, who was ex-armed forces as well, said you act in a certain way. You show people respect. You don't hit people,” Stone said.
“I feel we've lost that element of being a gentleman. We shouldn't shy away from calling things 'toxic' when it is toxic, but we should be promoting the positives and that you can be a masculine individual and it's not bad.
“There are hundreds and thousands of men across the planet who are masculine and are good people. Police officers, fire officers, nurses.”
The MP quoted a line from the American biographical war film American Sniper: “There are three types of people in this world: sheep, wolves and sheepdogs.”
“You should be the sheepdog,” Stone said.
“You should never be the wolf. So you should be protecting the sheep, that is a manly thing to do.”
The MMA fighter argued that “bringing back old-school traditional values” and re-establishing masculinity through “being a good person” would be good for society, before laughing with slight embarrassment and saying he recognised this was quite “conservative”.
“But that's how you can counteract some of the arguments from the right wing and the populist viewpoint.”
In Stone’s view, there are not enough positive male role models for boys and young men in the UK and the “void” had been filled by individuals he described as “grifters” who are “monetising” the struggles of young men.
“I despise people like Andrew Tate and how they're influencing young children,” he said, adding that it was important for men in positions of power and influence such as himself to speak out and “seek out positive role models”.
“A lot of people from the right would perceive ‘lefties’ or Labour as ‘simps’ or ‘losers’,” Stone said.
“And I'm like, well, actually, I fought in a cage. I've competed in the World Championships. I was an infanteer. You can't really brand me the same as you would brand someone else.”
In an interview with The Guardian in February, Labour’s then-Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that if Labour won the election, the Government would help schools to train young male influencers, in response to fears raised by teachers that thousands of boys are being radicalised by misogynistic influencers such as Tate.
Now Philipson is Education Secretary, no such formal plans have yet been announced, and teachers have called for better support from the Government to deal with the "alarming" misogynistic influence of social media on teenage boys.
Asked by PoliticsHome whether he felt government-supported role models in schools could help, Stone said there were “ways you could make it work” but that he did have some doubts.
“My biggest concern is it becomes a tick box exercise. Children know what's cool and what's not cool.”
Schools would need to make sure they were the “right people” to influence boys, for example, players from the local football club rather than “a carbon copy mentor who's been employed by the government to come in, put his cap back on and try and impress the kids”.
“I want to have a space where I set up a Mentorship Program in schools, but I am also aware that people don't view politics as cool,” Stone said.
The MP for Swindon North is supportive of fellow Labour MP Josh MacAlister’s Private Member’s Bill that would see the age of "internet adulthood" raised from 13 to 16. On Wednesday, Stone attended a round table to consult on the details of what will be included.
“It does seem like this is an issue where most people can get behind it, which is already positive.”
Another area in which Stone has a keen interest is mental health support for members and veterans of the armed forces.
“I don't think the mental health provisions are adequate,” he said.
“There needs to be more availability for people to get the support they need, especially when leaving the armed forces. We need to look at that.”
As IMD approaches, Stone said that it was important to get more people involved and give it a positive framing.
There is likely to be a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament for IMD next week, led by Labour MP Sam Rushworth. Stone said that the Backbench Business Committee, of which he is a member, wanted to ensure this debate was given parliamentary time.
“There should be a debate happening, I want to be in the debate. It's really important.”
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