Great Britain's newest health minister previously called for an end to same-sex bathrooms and once supported people identifying as llamas.
Ashley Dalton on Monday was appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to replace Andrew Gwynne at the Department of Health and Social Care. Gwynne was fired over the weekend following the emergence of offensive comments in a WhatsApp group.
Dalton's official title is parliamentary undersecretary of state in the department.
Starmer immediately faced questions about Dalton, who has defended people identifying as animals and argued for all bathrooms to be gender neutral.
In 2016, Dalton was asked by somebody on Twitter whether a person who decided they were a llama should be taken seriously by other people, GB News reported. Dalton replied: "Yes. And treat you with dignity and respect."
In the same year, the openly gay Dalton insisted, "Trans women aren't male. They're women" and claimed that people should be able to "define their own gender and that society should be set up to support not hinder that."
Dalton also described Brexit as "short-sighted and stupid" and branded the United Kingdom and U.S. as "fascist" countries, GB News reported.
Starmer's official spokesman was asked about Dalton saying people should be allowed to self-identify their gender.
"Comments made by MPs [members of parliament] are one for the Labor Party, not for me. But you've got the government's position on gender more broadly," the spokesman said, DailyMail.com reported.
The spokesman earlier reiterated the party's commitment to "modernize" gender recognition laws.
Labor confirmed it will press ahead with plans to make it easier for trans people to change their legal gender, despite fears the move could hand Nigel Farage's conservative populist Reform UK a major boost, The Sun reported.
Gwynne left the government during the weekend due to his involvement in a WhatsApp group named "Trigger Me Timbers." Leaked messages showed he hoped a 72-year-old constituent would "croak it" after she contacted him about garbage collections.