Angela Rayner broke her silence over the “disgusting” claim that she uncrossed her legs to distract prime minister Boris Johnson.
The MP even admitted she had chosen to wear trousers for her Tuesday (April 26) interview on ITV’s Lorraine to avoid being “judged” any further.
Labour’s deputy leader also revealed she was left “fearful” after an article in the Mail on Sunday aired claims from Tory MPs she distracted Boris at PMQs by crossing and uncrossing her legs, like in Sharon Stone’s film Basic Instinct.
House of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle summoned the Mail on Sunday’s editor for a meeting over the “offensive” article.
The article also quoted claims Angela, a comprehensive-educated MP, used the alleged tactic as she couldn’t compete with Boris’ Oxford debating skills.
(Image: ITV)
The story has been met with widely-spread condemnation, and Boris himself branded it “tripe”.
Speaking on Lorraine, Angela said: “I felt really fearful of the story coming out, thinking ‘that’s what people will think of me’.
“And then actually the response from the public, from all political parties… has been to condemn it and I think that’s heartened me.”
The Ashton-under-Lyne MP slammed the story as “disgusting” and “completely untrue” before explaining that she didn’t want her kids to see their mother portrayed in such a way.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
She went on: “When I heard the story was coming out, we rebutted it instantly. We said it was disgusting, please don’t run it, it is completely untrue. I was with my teenage sons.
“I had my weekend ruined, I felt really sad again… I was trying to prepare my kids for seeing things online. They don’t want to see their mum portrayed that way. All I worry about at the despatch box is doing a good job, and trying to do the best by my constituents.”
She also claimed the article was “steeped in classism” and that the Tory MP must think she’s “thick”.
Angela continued: “It wasn’t just about me as a woman, saying I was using the fact I was a woman against the Prime Minister.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“Which I think is quite condescending to the Prime Minister as well it shows you what his MPs think about his behaviour.
“But it was also steeped in classism as well and about where I come from and how I grew up – that I must be thick and I must be stupid because I went to a comprehensive school.
“Then they talk about my background because I had a child when I was young, as if to say I’m promiscuous, that was the insinuation, which I felt was quite offensive to people from my background.”
The Mail on Sunday piece quoted an unnamed Tory MP who said Ms Rayner “knows she can’t compete with Boris’s Oxford Union debating training, but she has other skills which he lacks”.
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It went on: “Tory MPs have mischievously suggested that Ms Rayner likes to distract the PM when he is in the despatch box by deploying a fully clothed parliamentary equivalent of Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct.”
Keir Starmer described his colleage as a “fantastic and formidable woman” who is a “brilliant politician”.
He told ITV’s This Morning: “I actually think it’s a culture thing, and therefore going after one or two individuals isn’t enough. We’ve got to change the culture in Parliament.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
