There is little doubt, no matter his later pretence, that Jeremy Corbyn called Theresa May a “stupid woman” and little doubt that he is therefore a bit of a sexist old fool. Bone-headed defenders of Mr Corbyn say that the description is factually accurate. Mrs May is, they say, stupid and she is (less contentiously) a woman. Yet this is rubbish and they know it.

The reason the remark is sexist is that when men are called stupid, the stupidity is rarely coupled with their gender. The phrase “stupid woman” (in which the second word is redundant even if the first is accurate) suggests a causal relationship between the two, as if the stupidity were in some way explained by the womanhood.

It’s the sort