An article in The Mail on Sunday reported that Labour leader Angela Rayner “crosses and uncrosses her leg to distract Prime Minister Boris Johnson”.
The article further reported that unnamed senior Tories had “mischievously” suggested Labour’s deputy leader deploys what it called “a fully clothed parliamentary equivalent of Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct”.
“She knows she can’t compete with Boris’s Oxford Union debating training, but she has other skills which he lacks. She has admitted as much when enjoying drinks with us on the [House of Commons] terrace,” the report quoted a Conservative MP as saying.
“It is also suggested she employs the tactic when sitting next to Sir Keir when he faces Mr Johnson at PMQs,” it suggested.
The article also described the Labour MP’s background as “a grandmother who left school at 16 while pregnant and with no qualifications before becoming a care worker”.
Naturally outraged by the article, Rayner tweeted a long thread, saying, “Women in politics face sexism and misogyny every day - and I’m no different. This morning’s is the latest dose of gutter journalism courtesy of Mail on Sunday. I stand accused of a “ploy” to “distract” the helpless PM - by being a woman, having legs and wearing clothes.
“I am conspiring to “put him off his stride”. The rest I won’t repeat - but you get the picture. Boris Johnson’s cheerleaders have resorted to spreading desperate, perverted smears in their doomed attempts to save his skin. They know exactly what they are doing. The lies they are telling. The potted biography is given - my comprehensive education, my experience as a care worker, my family, my class, and my background.
“The implication is clear. But it is the PM who is dragging the Conservative Party into the sewer - and the anonymous Tory MPs doing his bidding are complicit. He and his cheerleaders clearly have a big problem with women in public life. They should be ashamed of themselves. I won’t be letting their vile lies deter me. Their attempts to harass and intimidate me will fail. I’ve been open about how I’ve had to struggle to get where I am today.
“I’m proud of my background, I’m proud of who I am and where I’m from - but it’s taken time. I hope this experience doesn’t put off a single person like me, with a background like mine from aspiring to participate in public life. That would break my heart. We need more people in politics with backgrounds like mine - and fewer as a hobby to help their mates. Thank you to so many of you for your messages of solidarity and support.
“For calling this out for what it is. You are making a stand in the name of decency - against those who would further coarsen, cheapen and debase our politics to benefit their own interests. We all deserve so much better.”
Responding to this, PM Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter, “As much as I disagree with Angela Rayner on almost every political issue, I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today.”
