London: Angela Rayner has hit out at “sexism and misogyny” in politics, as a storm of criticism erupted after a newspaper reported that she crosses and uncrosses her legs during prime minister’s questions to distract Boris Johnson.
Rayner dismissed this as a "perverted smear" that showed women in politics faced misogyny every day.
Rayner condemned the article in a thread on Twitter as "gutter journalism", and accused the sources of "spreading desperate, perverted smears in their doomed attempts to save [Johnson's] skin" amid the partygate scandal.
She added: "I won't be letting their vile lies deter me. Their attempts to harass and intimidate me will fail.
"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."
Boris Johnson contacted Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner to make clear that he views claims about her in a Sunday newspaper 'misogynistic'.
Politicians have condemned the suggestion Ms Rayner tries to distract the prime minister in the Commons by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
In an article published overnight, Mail on Sunday political editor Glen Owen reported claims from several Conservative MPs that Angela Rayner “mischievously” tries to impede Boris Johnson at PMQs by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
The newspaper said the claims drew a parallel to an infamous scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct during which Sharon Stone’s character is seen crossing and uncrossing her legs.
The article quoted a Conservative MP saying: “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 [Commons] terrace.”
Johnson tweeted on Sunday: “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.” The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, subsequently published an identically worded tweet.
Johnson’s comments were echoed by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and former Cabinet Minister Andrea Leadsom, as well as Tory Chair Oliver Dowden who told the BBC it was “a totally ludicrous story”.
